Gajevy Week 2016 My Girl verse
by JadeOccelot
Summary: See the events that helped Levy realize that Gajeel was the one for her. The prompts are the events that will take place and set in my "My Girl" verse. T for language, mainly Gajeel's. My Girl verse AU.
1. Differences

**Differences**

"Hurry up! Everyone's already there!" Wendy yell as she raced ahead, she didn't get very far as Gajeel ran after her, quickly catching up thanks to his much longer legs and strides, snaked an arm around her and swung her up to his chest.

"That doesn't mean you can run off like that. I can easily lose sight of you from a stunt like that," Gajeel gently scolded.

"I'm sorry." Wendy meekly apologized. As Gajeel fought the urge to cave in at her sad puppy eyes Levy finally caught up with them after Gajeel dashed after Wendy.

"Just don't run too far ahead of us okay?" said Levy.

"Okay." With that Gajeel set Wendy back down but not before he gently ruffled her hair to let her know that he wasn't mad. Wendy smiled when she realized that and they were on their way again, this time Wendy made sure to stay just a few feet ahead of them.

"She's excited," Levy commented, earning a snort from Gajeel.

"Doesn't take an expert to see that."

"Well aren't you excited?"

"About what?"

"That today's the first time in months we don't have snow? That we're going to enjoy this deceivingly spring like day with our friends and your guys' cousins?" Levy listed as she took in the warm day.

"Muh."

"Really?"

"Shrimp, I work with hot metal all day. I'm plenty warm. Also said cousins also work with me so I see them almost everyday." Gajeel pointed out.

' _He has me there. Sort of'_

"But you'll be spending time with them out of work, plus Lily and Juvia will be there." Levy added. Gajeel grunted in response, she knew that he was at least agreeing with that. "Also since it's warm outside you don't have to go through sever temperatures changes every time you step outside." This time Gajeel groaned, no doubt recalling how the sudden temperature changes affected his piercings, especially his facial piercings, and the skin around them every time he stepped outside and back in.

"Just admit that you'll looking forward to this. Maybe not as much as Wendy, but still eager in your own way."

Before Gajeel could confirm or deny Wendy spoke up.

"We're here!" sure enough they had reached the park entrance where they were suppose to meet up with everyone. The three entered and followed the path till they found their friends around a picnic area.

"Hey guys!" Levy greeted as they walked up to them. Lucy saw them and was about to greet them back when Natsu interrupted.

"Hey Metal Head! You're finally here! Now we can play!"

"Whatever it is I want no part of it Salamander," Gajeel replied, watching Wendy as she made her way to Carla.

"Come on man! It's cousins vs. second cousins!" as soon as Natsu said that Levy knew he had him.

"Oh?" Gajeel replied, not even trying to hide the smirk that was starting to appear.

"Yeah! It's me and Natsu vs. you and Rouge!" Sting spoke up next.

"Alright, you're on!" Gajeel agreed.

"You don't even know what you're playing?" Levy stated.

"Doesn't matter, I'll win!"

"Not this time Metal Head!"

Before Levy knew it Gajeel and Natsu had requited most of the people here to their teams. On Natsu's side was Sting, Gray, much to the former's dismay, Elfman, and Erza and on Gajeel's was Rouge, Lily, Mira, and Laxus, who was home for a time. Then they were off.

"Wait. What are they playing again?" Levy asked, hoping someone knew.

"I thought it football, but then it was basketball, or even dodge ball at one point. I honestly don't know anymore," Lucy admitted.

"I think it's safe to say they're just going to make it up as they go," said Jella, something they all agree with no questions.

Soon everyone was doing their own thing and Levy found herself sitting at a table, after helping Shagotte set up, people watching and just soaking as much sun as she could.

"Levy." Levy looked up to see Juvia coming over.

"Hey Juvia. I thought you were going to join the guys," Levy asked when she sat down across from her.

"Juvia was going to but learned she would have to fight against her beloved Gray! Juvia couldn't!"

"You're not really fighting him… What are they playing anyways?" Juvia didn't answer for a few seconds.

"Juvia doesn't really know."

"I'm starting to wonder if even they know," said Levy. After a few seconds of comfortable silence between them Juvia spoke up.

"Juvia is curious about something." Levy was surprised at this.

"Curious about what?"

"Juvia wants to know what Levy has planned and if Juvia can help in anyway?" Levy blinked, trying to figure out what Juvia was talking about.

"Planned?" she finally asked when she couldn't come up with anything.

"For your first anniversary with Gajeel." Juvia's easygoing reply sent Levy sputtering.

"Anni-anniversay? But we only became official several months ago! And we didn't start dating till summer and that's several more months away!" Levy explained, having no idea why Juvia thought their first anniversary was coming up.

"But two weeks from today is the anniversary of the day you and Gajeel met," Juvia explained, leaving Levy stock still for a moment. Once the information was processed though Levy realized she was right.

"I…I didn't even realize that. Wait, how do you know when we met?"

"Juvia was spending that day with Wendy. Gajeel was stressed from work and other ...things at the time so Juvia insisted that Gajeel took the day off; go out into the town, enjoy some time for himself, while Juvia looked after Wendy," Juvia began to explain. "Gajeel was late picking up Wendy, which is very unlike him. Juvia asked what happen and he said quote 'I was nearly run over by a shrimp and end up following her to make sure she didn't run anyone else over.'" Levy felt a nerve tick at that.

"But when he admitted that he not only gave his number to you, something he never has done for someone he just met, but that he also got your number Juvia had to know all about this girl that caught his eye."

That last bit of information surprised levy.

"I didn't know that I left that much of impression on him," said Levy.

"Juvia admits it took all of Juvia's willpower and respect and trust towards Gajeel to not go out to find you and learn everything about you," Juvia admitted, causing Levy to be a little nervous and glad that Juvia didn't go through with it. If there was one you could never doubt about Juvia, besides her eternal love for Gray, was that she was very protective of her friends, especially of Gajeel who Juvia told Levy once that he was not only her best friend but they were each other's first real friend.

"I can imagine how surprised you were when you finally met me," Levy said, she couldn't help but wonder at.

"Juvia was surprised when we finally met. You were very different from what Juvia, even Lily, originally thought you were going to be like. You're almost the exact opposite of Gajeel.

"Yeah, I got that from some of my friends when they finally met Gajeel too," admitted Levy, not that she can blame any of them for they were so different from each in almost everyway.

Physically Gajeel was almost 6 feet tall, a good foot taller then her, she barely reached his shoulders, had long black hair that stuck out everywhere, yet was surprising soft to the touch, skin was naturally tan, scarred, and calloused, mainly his hands, from his job and from his years spent undercover, though the scars on his right arm was still a mystery, and had a body ripped with muscles he gained from training and kept in prime shape through workouts and from handling heavy metals everyday. Where as Levy was not even 5 foot, had short, light blue hair that she kept back with headbands, pale skin that while had no scars or callouses burned easily, she had to wear sunscreen everyday during the summer or even on just unusually sunny days such as today, and while she kept in shape through her own workout routine the heaviest thing she ever carried was piles of magazines and manuscripts.

Their hobbies and interests also differed from the other. Gajeel was more on hands on person who always had to be working on or doing something, be it from metal projects on the side or writing new songs, which leads to their different tastes in music too. For Levy as long as she had a good book to curl up with she's happy, she also enjoys puzzles and other activities that tested her mind than her body.

Their interests also extended to their careers where as mentioned Gajeel worked with heavy metals, crafting all kinds of commissions made from iron or steel, a very physically demanding job. Even before he opened his shop Gajeel risked his life as an undercover cop, and though Gajeel never told her exactly what he did she knew that he had infiltrated many dangerous gangs and other criminal groups and helped put away many of them through his efforts. Levy worked as a editor at the _Sorcerer Weekly_ magazine company and helped to make sure each issue was published with no mistakes and even sometimes writes a an article every now and then.

Their personalities were also vastly different too. Despite having once been in a career where he had to lie and pretend to be someone he wasn't everyday, Gajeel was a brutally honest man who was not afraid to tell people exactly what he thought of them whether they wanted to hear it or not, he was brash and came off as a rude, unfeeling, tough guy who would knock your teeth out if you so much as looked at him the wrong way, but Levy was one of the few who was privileged to see his softer, caring side, the side where he can empathize and cheer you up in his own way, a side she sees all the time with Wendy and has also experienced it herself. Levy was the more polite and approachable of two, she was friendly with everyone she met, but she did get annoyed when people poked at her height, and was genuinely kind hearted, something Gajeel was admitted was something he admired about her even if it was something others would try to take advantage of. She was also level headed and made sure she heard all the facts before making decisions, exceptions to that were Gajeel for reasons she didn't think she'd ever understand.

Heck, even their childhoods were completely different. While Levy grew up as an only child, no living relatives other than her parents who lovingly raised her and supported her and were there for her whenever she needed them, her childhood was happy one. Gajeel on the other hand had seen and been through things no child should, his father had lost custody of him when he was young so from an early age Gajeel was on his own and he didn't have anyone to rely on but himself, and while Levy didn't know everything what she did know was enough to have her heart ache for him.

It was just as Juvia said, she and Gajeel were complete opposites of each other, yet somehow they ended up together.

Levy was brought out of her thoughts when Juvia spoke.

"You know Juvia thinks that it's because you two are so different is why you two work so well together." When Juvia saw the slight confused look on Levy's face, she continued. "Juvia knows people who are so different from each other don't always get along and even sometimes clash, but Juvia believes, especially with you and Gajeel, that those differences are what makes you love the other so much for they bring out the best in each other.

"Huh. I guess when you put it like that it makes sense." Levy looked around till she spotted Gajeel, "I mean if you asked me two years ago what I'd look for in a man what I'd would have described would have been nothing like Gajeel. He may not be the dream man I thought I'd wanted, but he is the only man I can imagine spending my life with. No one else even compares." Juvia smiled at her admission.

"Juvia knows Gajeel feels the same with Levy. Juvia has never seen him happier with anyone else." Levy swiped at the corner of her eye, telling herself it was leaf or some other bit of derby.

"Thanks Juvia." Levy said as she leaned over and hugged Juvia.

"You're welcome Levy. But can Juvia ask something if you don't mind?" Juvia asked as she pulled back.

"Sure, anything," Levy replied.

"How did Levy come to realize that Gajeel was the one?" Levy tried not to but she couldn't stop the blush that quickly spread across her face.

"Um, well. It wasn't a epiphany or a light bulb moment, it was several different times and events that together helped me realized that," Levy tried to explain.

"Can you tell Juvia what they were?" Levy looked around to see if anyone was listening in. When it seemed like no one was she decided why not.

"Okay. I guess the first time was…"

* * *

 **First prompt of Gajevy Week! Well technically it's the bonus prompt, which for some reason I thought was on another day and wrote this in less than a day so that's why it's rushed and no doubt filled with mistakes, but still! My goal is to do all the prompts of the week and they'll all take place in my "My Girl" story verse during the time Gajeel and Levy were dating and the few months after Levy moved in and officially became his girlfriend. So this prompt is an introduction to the others as Levy tells Juvia about the events that helped her realized Gajeel was the love of her life. Hope you guys like this one despite that it was obviously rushed and I hope you'll come back for Gajevy Week.**


	2. Blanket

**Blanket**

"Shrimp I got bad news?" hearing Gajeel of all people call while she was relaxing at home and say that he had bad news to share was a surefire way for Levy's day to go sour.

"What is it? Is Wendy okay? Are you okay?" Levy asked, afraid the bad news was that one of the Mavell-Redfox siblings was hurt.

"Nothing like that Shrimp, we're fine calm down," Gajeel answered before saying what the news was. "I have to cancel our date tomorrow."

"What? Why?" Levy asked. They hardly ever canceled the dates they had planned, they always carefully planned them to make sure nothing would come up and interrupt them, but something clearly came up for Gajeel for him to cancel, the question though was what.

"Lily got called in on a case and Shagotte had to go out of town for something work related so they can't watch Wendy tomorrow night. Juvia is on duty and our cousins already have plans so I have no one to watch Wendy," Gajeel explained.

"Oh, I see. Guess it can't be helped then," Levy bit back a sigh, trying to hide her disappointment. Both of them had been so busy lately that they haven't seen each other in a couple of weeks, this date was suppose to finally allow them to spend some time with each other.

' _But Wendy can't and shouldn't be left alone just because I want to have some time with her brother. I would call Lily if she was ever left alone, not that Gajeel would even think of doing that.'_

"Sorry Shrimp, I know you were looking forward to tomorrow," Gajeel started to apologize but Levy cut in.

"There's no need to apologize Gajeel really. It's not your fault and besides, we can reschedule," Levy assured him. She was thrown off when she heard Gajeel muttered 'screw it' and spoke again and proposed an idea.

"Forget that, how about we just meet at my place instead." It took a few seconds to understand what he was trying to say.

"You want to have our date at your home?" Levy had been to his shop before but had she never gone upstairs to the apartment where Gajeel and Wendy lived. Hearing him inviting her to his home and safe haven for his baby sister understandingly surprised her.

"Why not? I can whip something up and we can finally see each other in person instead of talking on the phone. That is if you don't mind having Wendy there to join?"

"No! Of course not! It's a great idea." Levy quickly reassured.

"Alright! So we're back on for tomorrow then. Come over around 6 and I'll let you in."

"Sure. I'll see you tomorrow then Gajeel."

"Yep. See ya then Shrimp." With that Gajeel hanged up and Levy took a moment to process and understand the fact that she'll be going over to his apartment and spending the evening there.

' _Oh boy. What did I just get myself into?'_

* * *

The next evening Levy found herself standing outside Gajeel's shop. She looked up at the windows at the upper levels, knowing that Gajeel was up there.

' _He said to come around 6 and he'll let me in, does that mean he'll let me in the apartment or the building itself?... I should probably check to see if the door is lock.'_ With that in mind Levy reached for the door handle. She met empty air inside when the door opened from the other side.

"Natsu?" Levy looked at said man, bemused by his sudden appearance.

"Hey Levy. Metal Head said you were coming over for dinner," Natsu said with his trademark grin.

"Are you staying?" Levy had thought it was suppose to be just her and Gajeel, and Wendy and didn't he say that their cousins had plans already?

"Nope, I'm heading out to see Lucy. I was just closing up the shop for him." Natsu answered, his grin never leaving his face.

"Oh right, you work here as a glassblower."

"Yep. So you coming in or what?" Natsu suddenly asked, reminding Levy why she was here.

"Oh right!" Natsu stepped aside to let her in. Once in Levy looked around the small lobby, it was small and had a few chairs but had a large, glass cabinet with the guy's creations of glass and metal locked inside, rest of the floor that made up the shop laid behind a counter, where they interact with the customers, was the work area and all the equipment needed to work with metal and glass for Natsu.

"So how do I get up to the apartment?" sure she's been to the shop plenty of times, Gajeel even gave her tour of the work area, but she never could find anything that would lead to the upper floors.

"Follow me." Natsu waved his hand in the 'follow me' motion and made his way through the work area. Levy followed him, careful not to bump into anything. When they made it to the other side Natsu led Levy to a couple of doors.

"Isn't this where you guys store all the metal, ores, and materials?"

"These ones yes, but this one," Natsu opened one of the doors, took a couple of steps, he then suddenly turned to the side and pulled open the wall that was actually a door. "Leads right to the apartment."

Levy was astonished at the fact that there was a secret door in this building and that it was the way to the apartment. "How's that always been there?"

"Yeah but it used to be more in the open, but when we helped Gajeel renovated the building when he bought he turned the doorway into a hidden door. Said that if someone was stupid enough to try and rob the shop they wouldn't or at least have a harder time making it to the apartment because they couldn't figure out how to get up there. Personally I think he's paranoid, but then again I know he just think about Wendy's safety."

Natsu's eyes soften at the mention of his youngest cousin. Like Gajeel he also loved the little girl almost to fault to the point where he'd pick a fight a little kid if they were picking on her.

Levy was about to thank him when Natsu suddenly stuck his head through the doorway, looked up the staircase and yelled.

"Hey Metal Head! Levy's here!" they heard a muffled yell from somewhere above but were able to hear.

"Just send her up then instead of yelling in my home and business Salamander!" Natsu ignored him and turned back to Levy.

"You heard him, just head up those stairs and you'll reach the apartment."

"Thanks, and have a good time with Lucy." Levy thanked him as she started to make her way up the spiral staircase.

"Is that a question or an order? Because it's always good to spend time with Lucy, except for certain times of the month."

"Don't make me tell Lucy what you just said." Levy warned him. Natsu eeped and dashed out. Levy laughed as she continued her way up till she reached another door. "That explains why his voice was muffled." Levy reached towards the handle but stopped, unsure if she should knock or go right in. _'Gajeel knows I'm here thanks to Natsu, but that's not exactly permission to into someone's home.'_ Before Levy could figure out what to do the door once more was opened for her from the other side.

"Hi Levy!" Wendy greeted before hugging her legs.

"Hello Wendy." Levy greeted back as she returned the hug. It only lasted a second before Wendy started pulling her in.

"You're just in time, dinner's almost ready." As they stepped in Levy looked around their home. It was more spacious and open then she thought it'd be, it was basically a loft. Most of the room was like a large living room, Levy saw a large, worn but comfy looking couch against one side of the room, a bookshelf next to it which Levy planned on browsing later, a guitar on the other side, various examples of Gajeel's work decorated the place, there was a large TV mounted on a custom-made TV stand no doubt by him since it was made of metal, and placed between the TV and the couch was a…

"Is that a kotatsu?" Levy had read about the low table frames with heavy blankets placed between the table and heat source but had never seen one before, especially since they're not common in this part of the world.

"Built it myself Shrimp. It was cheaper than having one shipped here, freaking trying to rip me off." Levy turned to other side of the room to see a decent size kitchen and a large bar counter and bar chairs on the side facing towards the room that divided it from rest of the room, and at the stove was Gajeel. "Too hot to use its heater right now since it's still summer but it's great in the winter. Wendy also loves it. Usually find her napping in the blanket."

"It's warm and comfy," Wendy added as she led Levy to the kitchen area.

"No argument there Baby Blue. Anyway hope you're hungry Shrimp, but if not more for me then," Gajeel picked up a large heatproof bowl and set it on the bar counter. Levy and Wendy came to other side, climbing up the bar chairs to actually get a look, and peered inside the bowel. It was some sort of pasta dish but had bits of meat in it instead of sausages, the noodles were fettuccine, and sprinkled all over were grated cheese and basil leaves. Whatever this dish was it looked and smelled great.

"What is this?" Levy finally just asked.

"Beef and tomato ragu, but without the red wine since Wendy's eating it."

"Well it looks great none the less."

"We usually have pizza on Fridays but Gajeel really wanted to impress you with his cooking," Wendy suddenly said.

"Oi, oi! Keep that up and no dessert for you Wen," Gajeel warned as he turned away to hide the blush that was forming and grabbed a bowl full of crusty bread.

"No fair! You can't do that!" Wendy protested.

"I can and I will if you keep that up." Wendy pouted but didn't say anymore. Levy was struggling to hold back the laugh that was building up from that exchange. She coughed to get rid of the laugh that was lodged in her throat before speaking.

"Did you make the bread too?"

"Hell no. I can cook just about anything but when it comes to baking I can't bake for sh-crap," he stumbled over the last words in a attempt to keep his language somewhat clean around his baby sister, something Levy curiously noted.

' _So he can filter that mouth of his… Sort of.'_

"But you mentioned dessert?" Levy pointed out.

"Just some ice cream in the freezer, nothing fancy," he answered as he set a plate and fork in front of her. "Help yourself." Levy then realized there was a pasta ladle next to the bowl.

"Thank you." She went ahead and filled her plate, once she did Gajeel then filled two more plates and setting one of them in front of Wendy before coming around the counter and taking a seat next to Levy. Only then did it occur to her that there wasn't a dining table in the apartment. "No dining table?"

Gajeel just shrugged his shoulders. "No point in having one since it's just me and Baby Blue and no one comes up to the apartment but our cousins, Juvia, Lily and his girls but never for meals."

"I get that." She really did since she lived by herself she mostly either ate on the way out or on her coffee table or desk. "So how are things? How's Wendy first weeks at first grade going?"

They all fell into conversation that went from Wendy's school, to Gajeel and Levy's work projects from the last couple of weeks, and just random topics that came to mind.

Eventually they all finished, with Gajeel helping himself to seconds and Levy sneaking a little more herself, and were moving on to dessert.

"Dinner was delicious. You should have opened a restaurant instead," Levy complimented as Gajeel opened the fridge's freezer.

"I don't enjoy cooking that much, if I did I would've taken Mira's job offer at her restaurant when I retired from the force," Gajeel answered, taking several ice cream containers out. "Plus cooking for just myself or for a bunch of people is a pain the a-butt."

As he set the containers down Levy suddenly realized that she didn't know what was going to happen after dessert. Gajeel invited her for dinner for their date but did he have something else planned or was she supposed to leave after this? She didn't want to overstay her welcome, especially since it was her first time in his apartment.

Levy decided to just ask. "Hey Gajeel, what's the plan after ice cream?" Gajeel looked surprised by the question, then thoughtful. "You didn't have plan."

"Nope." He admitted. "Well I-" a large clap of thunder suddenly rang out, it was so loud and unexpected that everyone jumped. "The hell!"

Another thunderclap followed seconds after the first one. Wendy let out a frighten whine and Levy instinctively hugged the little girl to her as Gajeel went to the window.

"Shit, it's a summer storm."

"What?" Levy hopped down from her seat, picked up Wendy from hers and carried her as she made her way over to Gajeel. She headed Wendy over to her big brother before looking out the window and sure enough it was pouring rain and in the distances she saw a lighting bolt streak across the sky with another loud thunder clap following seconds later. "The weather report said it was suppose to be just a shower."

"Showers don't rain sideways or having chances of lighting accompanying them?" Gajeel grumbled as he hugged Wendy, trying to comfort her as she buried her head against his neck and hair. "At least this answers your question."

"It does?" Levy looked at him, her confusion clear on her face.

"Yep, you're staying the night."

"What?!" she wasn't suppose to stay the night, they're still dating and only for a few months at that, it was too soon for her to be staying the night over. "Gajeel there's no need for that, the drive to my apartment isn't that far." Gajeel looked at her as if she was crazy.

"You insane Shrimp? Do you not see the lighting storm outside?" he pointed out the window to the worsening storm. "I don't care if you lived across the street there is no way I'm letting you go out in that. This is how people die."

Levy knew he was right, it was not safe to be driving out in this storm but the thought of staying the night was spending her brain into overdrive.

"But I don't have anything to sleep in, or a place to sleep," Levy tried to counter with excuses she knew were pathetic.

"I have clothes you can wear for the night and I can take couch while you take my bed." The thought of sleeping in his bed didn't help her at all.

"I don't want to take your bed," she protested. Another thunderclap rang out following a distressed cry from Wendy bringing both their attentions to her, breaking their argument.

"We'll figure out sleeping arrangements later but you are staying here, that is not up to debate," Gajeel was so adamant about it that Levy finally agreed, she honestly didn't feel safe going out in that storm anyway.

' _But's what's going to happen now?'_

* * *

Several hours have past since the storm started. The first half-hour was spent calming Wendy down, once she was Gajeel left Levy in charge of her while he made sure the apartment and the shop was locked up and secured. The rest of the time was spent just passing the time; Gajeel played his guitar that helped to drown out the thunder, it cheered Wendy up and gave Levy a chance to hear his guitar play which was pretty good as long as he didn't try to sing at the same time, browsed through the TV channels to see if anything good was on, and they even got back to the ice cream they were originally going to eat.

Now they sat at the kotatsu, Gajeel and Wendy on side facing the couch and Levy on the side, watching a movie they found playing. Well Levy and Gajeel were watching, Wendy fell asleep and was now sleeping under the heavy, star-patterned blanket.

Levy was getting into the movie when Gajeel suddenly asked her.

"Why didn't you want to stay?" Levy was still for a second as she realized that Gajeel had just asked her a question, one she didn't know how to explain.

"I just didn't want to overstay my welcome," she said, hoping that would be enough. The stare she got said otherwise.

"Levy even I can tell that there's more to it than just worrying about being a good guest. Spill." Levy sighed when she realized Gajeel was not going to let this go.

"Okay. I'm guess I'm just… nervous about staying the night since we're been dating for only a few months now. I mean we've known each other longer than that but again we only started dating almost three months ago and I'm not sure that's long enough to be spending the night together." She tried to explain the best she could.

"Why? You'd think I'd try and do something to you? Especially with Wendy here?" Gajeel asked, his face calm but Levy saw the quick flash of hurt before he hid it.

' _He thinks that I'm afraid he'd try something like that? I wasn't trying to say that at all! I know he would never do or make me do something I wasn't comfortable with or ready for!'_

"No, no! That's not what I meant!" Levy waved her arms in a panic manner, trying to reassure Gajeel that she wasn't afraid or uncomfortable around him. "I meant to say that I never spent the night at a guy's house before, not once even when I dated other guys before. Well with Jet and Droy I have stayed over but we grew up together, they're like my brothers so it's not the same. You're different, but in a good way if that make sense. I was nervous but not because of you but because…" she tried off, not sure how to continue.

"You never spent the night with someone you're involved with before and have no ideal what to do," Gajeel said in understanding, the blank face gone and a reassuring smirk took its place.

"Exactly." Levy couldn't help but smile that he understood what she was trying to say.

"Well remember it was suppose to be just a dinner, didn't plan on that storm. Shitty weather reports are never right."

"That's true, for both." Gajeel let out a short laugh. He opened his mouth to say something then closed it just as quickly, when Levy looked at him curiously though he seemed to change his mind again.

"If it makes you feel better Shrimp you're the first… to stay over, for dinner and the night. First girl that wasn't Juvia or Carla anyway."

"Really? You never invited over any of the girls you've dated?"

He shrugged nonchalantly. "Never really had an interest in dating. Living under a fake identity for a living made it easier not to and when Wendy came along I had to be careful more than ever with who I involved in my life. Have been forced on a few blind dates, thanks to Mira, but none of them stayed or lasted long enough for me to ever introduce Wendy to them let alone invite them over to where we live."

Levy was genuinely surprised by this admission, she knew he was he wasn't the most approachable man but she also know how much the 'bad boy' image can attract women too. Then again most women who tend to go for that aren't seeking a long-term relationship and if Gajeel was ever interested in someone he had to be sure they were right for not just him but for Wendy as well.

It suddenly hit Levy that she wasn't just the first girl to be invited over, she was also the first to still be dating him long enough to have meet Wendy, the most important person in the world to him and who's safety he put above all others even his own. Being invited over was a huge step for not just her but to Gajeel as well for it showed just how much he trusts her now.

Levy stood up suddenly, Gajeel watched her wondering what she was up too but his eyes grew wide the next second when she sat next to him, tucked herself under the blanket, and leaned against him while holding his arm.

"Thank you." She didn't say what exactly she was thanking him for but he had a feeling it was for more than one thing. His eyes soften as he wrapped his arm around her and drew her even closer to him.

"What are you thanking me for? I just wanted an excuse to see ya."

"And what exactly was the excuse?" a pause. Then a curse when he realized he unwitting admitted that he just wanted to see her, even inviting her over was his idea in the first place not hers.

"Well despite whatever excuse you'll eventually come up with," Gajeel opened his mouth to retort but stopped when she said. "I'm glad we did this. I missed you."

Gajeel smiled despite himself and hugged her.

"Same here Lev."

* * *

Levy didn't want to get up; she was so comfy and still at the point where she could go back into deep sleep, but the sun was shining directly into her face and preventing her from doing so. She made to turn over away from the light but something was keeping her pinned down on her side. She groggy opened her eyes, managing to free a hand to block the sun and as she looked around she realized several things at once; she wasn't in her bedroom or a bed, a large arm with several piercings in the forearm was wrapped around her, and the same arm was pinning her not just on her side but against the chest of a sleeping Gajeel.

' _We fell asleep here?'_ sure enough they were still in the loft area, sleeping in the kotatsu blanket. _'Glad Gajeel brought out the cushions or else my back would be killing me right now.'_

She tried to wiggle when she felt something moved against her. She paused, fearing what it could be, before looking down. Somehow when they feel asleep in each others arms, Wendy had made her way between them was sleeping on her back with one hand holding on to Levy's shirt and her head buried into Gajeel's stomach.

Levy couldn't help but internally coo at the sight. Levy laid there for a few seconds, trying to figure out if she should stay in this embrace and try to go back to sleep or get up-

' _Was that a camera flash?'_

Levy looked up over the table and saw Natsu and Lucy with their phones out taking pictures of the scene in front of them.

"What are you guys doing here?" Levy demanded, she forget to keep her voice down however and awoke the man that was sleeping besides her.

"Huh?" Gajeel mumbled, looking around with barely opened eyes. But the second he saw Natsu with his phone out he was wide-awake. "Salamander. If you value your life you'll give me that phone. Right. Now."

"No way! I got some great pics. Plus Lucy got some too," Natsu said with a smirk which fell when Gajeel let go of Levy, sprung to his on his feet and leapt over the kotatsu. "AH! Run Luc!"

The two made a break down the stairs with Gajeel hot on their heels but Levy heard Lucy yell. "You are so giving me details later Levy!"

Levy stared at the door for a good ten seconds before she felt a tug on her shirt. She looked down to see Wendy looking up at her, rubbing one eye while the other was half opened.

"Where'd Big Brother go?"

"He went after Natsu. Something about shoving his head and cell phone into the furnace."

"Oh. Okay." Then she just fell against Levy, fast asleep with a hand still gripping her shirt. Levy, seeing as how she had no idea when Gajeel would be back, followed her lead. She lay back down, pulled the blanket over them and fell back asleep.

A short time later Gajeel came back up and when he saw Wendy sleeping in Levy's arms he'd never been more envious of his baby sister then he was right now.

"Wendy, that's suppose to be me."

* * *

 **First official prompt of Gajevy Week! Yeah! As mentioned in Differences the following prompts are going to take place during the time Levy and Gajeel were dating and the months after Levy moves in and officially become a couple, but they will be out of order. Example, this prompt takes place a few months after they started dating while Council will take place around a month after she moves and Song will take place back to when they were dating. Wanted to make that clear now to avoid future confusion. Details in each prompt will have help to tell when they take place but I also plan to put up a list that shows when they all take place in chronological order if you guys want. Anyway hope you enjoy this one and you'll enjoy what's to come for the rest of the week.**


	3. Notice for I Love You

**Sorry it isn't the actual prompt but I am doing the "I Love You" prompt but the prompt theme doesn't fit between the time they were dating and even the first few months after they officially become a couple still felt too soon. So "I Love You" will act sort of as the epilogue to how I started this and will be posted either with "Jealousy" or shorty afterwards. The rest of the prompts should be on time and hope you're looking forward to Children/Parenthood.**


	4. ChildrenParenthood

**Huge credit and thanks to CapAleran2 for helping me with this prompt after getting stuck on it so many times.**

* * *

 **Children/Parenthood**

"Gajeel I'm home!" Levy announced herself as she entered the shop and made her way through the lobby towards the work area and stopping right before the yellow tape on the ground. Gajeel turned his head towards her just as he dunked a metal slab into a barrel of oil, steam exploding the second it made contact with the oil.

"You're home early Shrimp," Gajeel acknowledge her before pulling the metal out of the barrel after a few seconds and Levy could see that it was a sword, or to be precise a blade that will make the sword.

"The material for the next issue is still in the works so there isn't much for me to do right now so I came home early. Is that Erza's sword?" Levy asked, remembering that Erza requested a commission late last week, a breastplate and a sword.

"Not just yet, but it will be once I'm done with it, gihi," Gajeel smirked. Suddenly they heard his cell go off, the 'sho bi do ba' ring tone ringing loud and clear on a desk area near Levy. "Get that for me will ya? I need to get any warping out right now while I can."

"Sure," Levy dashed over to pick up the phone as Gajeel went over to the vice. "Hello."

"Mr. Redfox?" a woman's voice asked the other end. "Did I miss dial?"

"No you didn't. This is his cell number Gajeel's just has his hands full for the moment." Levy explained. "May I ask who's calling?"

"I'm calling on behalf of the principle of Magonlia Elementary and I need to speak to Mr. Redfox as soon as possible," the woman, who Levy guessed worked in the office or something, explained.

"Isn't that Wendy's school? Is she okay?" Levy asked with a concern tone.

"Are you her guardian?" Levy was thrown off by the question.

"Um, no I'm not."

"Then I'm afraid I cannot share any information with you. Please, get Mr. Redfox on the phone as soon as possible."

"I-I will." Levy was a little hurt, not really knowing why she was, but she could understand the caution. For all the lady knows she could be just some random stranger who happened to pick up Gajeel's phone, better safe than sorry when it comes to sharing private information about Wendy.

It took several minutes for Gajeel to finish getting the warping's out and set the blade vertically in the vice to cool off, once he did Levy made her way over to him.

"It's Wendy's school, they want to talk to you."

"Thanks Shrimp," Gajeel replied as he took a glove off so he could properly hold his cell. Once Gajeel took the phone and started conversing with the lady on the other end Levy heard Natsu and Sting call her over.

"Hey guys. You're working today?" Levy asked when she made her way over.

"Yeah. Rouge has the day off so I'm helping Gajeel with Erza's commission, prettying up the breastplate right now," Sting answered, showing Levy the rough looking breastplate. It honestly looked pretty ugly but Levy knew that once Sting was done with it it'd be a beautiful and strong piece of armor worthy of Erza.

"Yeah well, while they're working on that I'm working on a commission of my own," Natsu added.

"Is it for Lucy?" Levy asked.

"Yep," he answered with a grin.

"What did she order?" when Natsu didn't answer and instead looked away Levy realized Lucy didn't place an order. "Oooh! It's a surprise commission."

"Maybe, but you don't' know what it is!" Natsu countered, regretting it the second he did when Sting smirked.

"But I do! It's-" Sting was cut off when Natsu jumped on his back and covered his mouth his hands.

"Oh no you don't! If Levy finds out then she'll tell Lucy and it'll ruin the surprise!" Levy watched and laughed as the two wrestled each other.

"KNOCK IT OFF!" all three jumped when Gajeel yelled at them and when they saw that he was seriously angry, not just pissed off or annoyed by their antics but true anger, they stood stock-still.

"Gajeel?" Levy gently asked. She's seen him react to his cousins fighting before, usually using a quick slap to the back of their heads to end it, but he never got this mad about it before. Gajeel didn't say anything as he put his cell in his pocket, released his hair from his bandana and ponytail as he headed towards the back; grabbing a towel from a pile he kept out to clean the sweat off themselves. Now Levy was beginning to grow concern.

"Everything alright man?" Sting cautiously asked, not wanting to be the one that unleashed the anger they could all clearly see Gajeel was holding back.

"Sting! You're in charge till I get back! Put the sword back in the oil for an hour once it cools down! Call Rouge and tell him he has less an hour to get his ass here and work on the sword or he's fired! Salamander don't burn anything!" Gajeel commanded as he cleaned himself with the towel. Natsu looked like he was about to answer back with a smart-ass comment when Sting wisely covered his mouth.

"Gajeel, what's going on? Is Wendy okay?" Levy calmly asked again as she walked up to him, gently wrapping her hands around his scarred arm, her concern clearing showing on her face and she knew Natsu and Sting wore similar expressions for they loved their baby cousin almost, if not as much as Gajeel. She could feel him stiffen for a brief second before his body relaxed.

"Don't know. They just told me that she got into a fight and they want me over as soon as possible." Gajeel finally answered.

"A fight? Wendy?" Levy was shocked to say the least. Wendy was such a sweet little girl who freed bugs from spider webs and save the same spiders from inside their apartment. Unlike her big brother and cousins she showed no sign of enjoying brawls, she was always afraid someone would get hurt every timed they wrestled. To hear that she was in a fight was just not like her.

' _But that can only mean she's being bullied! No wonder Gajeel's so mad!'_

Levy could feel her own anger and protective instinct rise, but was able to rein it in before it took over.

"I'm coming with you." Gajeel was genuinely surprised by what she just said.

"There's no reason for ya to come along. You just got home and this shouldn't take long either. There's no need for ya to get dragged into this," Gajeel explained, but Levy wasn't having it.

"I may not need to come but I want to come. If Wendy's in trouble I want to be there for her," Levy replied, not backing down. Gajeel regarded her for a second, before sighing as he tossed his towel in the pile near the door.

"Fine. Just let me change my shirt then we'll head out," Gajeel said as he made his way towards the door that leads to the staircase to their apartment.

"I'll meet you in the car," Levy replied to him before turning to Natsu and Sting, "And I'll let you guys know what's going on when we get back.

"Thanks Levy," said Sting.

"Make sure Metal Head doesn't punch anyone on school grounds," Natsu simply said.

"I doubt it'll come to that," said Levy.

"You didn't see what happened to the last guy that messed with Wendy. I think he was in the hospital for a week." Natsu replied with Sting nodding in confirmation.

' _Now I really hope it doesn't come to that.'_

* * *

"Did they tell you where to meet them?" Levy asked Gajeel as they walked through the halls of Magonlia Elementary.

"Principle's office," Gajeel answered before going silent, just like he had been since the drive here. Levy didn't say anymore and instead kept an eye out for the office. They didn't walk for long before they found it. They opened the door to see the principle sitting at her desk, a boy who looked a couple years older than Wendy sitting with presumably his mother in seats on the far side of the desk, and Wendy herself sitting on a chair closer to the door.

"Ah Mr. Redfox, glad you could make it. Sorry it had to be under these circumstances though and so soon after Christmas break," the principle said, casting a look at Levy before looking away.

"What happened?" Gajeel cut straight to the point.

"If you would take a seat I'll explain." Gajeel tsked before grabbing a chair for himself and Levy. As he did that Levy noticed that the boy had a black eye that was forming and traces of dried blood just below his nostrils. Levy looked Wendy over for similar injuries but to her surprise and relief Wendy didn't have a scratch on her.

Once they were seated the principle began to finally explain what was going on.

"I called you all here because your children got into a fight that turned physical at recess earlier today."

' _Well that explains why the boy looks beat up but what does Wendy have to do with this?'_

"We talked with each of them and it seems that some teasing got out of hand and provoked a violent reaction."

"Violent how?" Gajeel suddenly asked.

"That girl attacked my son!" the boy's mother accused, pointing a heated glare at Wendy. Levy instinctively moved her body to block Wendy from the woman's view, hiding her shock of the woman's accusation against Wendy.

"You got to be fu-freaking kidding me. She's half his size. What is he? 4th grade?" Gajeel stated with his own intense gaze towards the boy's mother, using his arm to gesture between the two kids.

Levy, from her seat between Gajeel and Wendy, looked between mother and son. He was bigger, a couple years older than Wendy, possibly a 3rd or 4th grader like Gajeel stated. Although he was clearly older and bigger compare to Wendy's smaller size of a typical 6-year-old 1st grader he was the one with the only visible injuries, mainly his face, while Wendy appeared to have none.

"Don't let her age or size fool you, I mean just look at her father," the mother spat with a frown, crossing her arms across her arms in pure contempt.

"I'm her brother." Levy could hear Gajeel grit his teeth.

"Well that's even worse!"

"What's that suppose to mean!" Levy could see Gajeel's expression change to pure rage as his muscles tensed besides her. Never in the entire time that she's known them had she ever seen anyone dared threaten Wendy in the presence of her older brother and taunt him, but now that it was happening before her eyes, it was scary. She laid a hand on his tense arm, hoping to calm him down before he did something drastic just as the principle decided to intervene.

"Alright, let's not get out of hand here. This is a discussion not a boxing ring," she calmly said while still eyeing Gajeel's form with concern.

"Do you see what I mean? She's just like him. That's proof of their relation right there. My poor boy didn't stand a chance against that family's rage." The mother continued, as if she didn't hear the principle speak just now.

"Lady, you're blowing this way out of proportion…" Gajeel commented, his enraged scowl turning into a frown at her disillusioned words.

"Oh am I?"

"She did hit me. Here on my face, twice, in my chest, and down below too," the boy readily added as he pointed to his face, rib cage, and down towards his groin area.

"I did not hit you in your boys." Wendy protested with a scowl, though everyone noted that she didn't deny hitting him in the other areas.

"See! She's confesses! She admits to attacking my son." The mother almost shrilled as she pointed an accusing finger at Wendy.

"She did not! She just said she didn't hit him below the belt," Gajeel countered. Before things could get out of hand again the principle once more intervene.

"Please calm down, both of you." Everyone waited with baited breath as the mother and Gajeel glared at each other for a few seconds before breaking eye contact. "Now then, Wendy can you tell everyone what you told your teacher and I earlier?"

Wendy looked nervously around the room, clearing afraid to say something else that would send the boy's mother into another accusing fit.

Levy put her arms around the girl's shoulder in an attempt to calm and reassure her. They both gazed up at Gajeel, who seemed to have calmed down a bit. He was watching the mother but look down at his girls. Levy and Gajeel knew Wendy and that no matter what transpired earlier that day they knew that Wendy didn't do anything wrong and any accusations, from the mother, principle, or anyone else, would have no standing against her.

Wendy took a breath and began to explain her side of the story.

"I was defending myself and Carla." The mother opened her mouth to let out another accusation when a raised hand from the principle stopped her.

' _Carla? She's involved too?'_ Levy shared a quick glance with Gajeel at the mentioned of Wendy's best friend and daughter of Lily, Gajeel's own best friend.

"Me and Carla were playing during recess and him came over with a couple of his friends. They started teasing us and we tried to ignore them, but it started to turn really mean. Carla told them to knock it off, but he said that he didn't have to listen to a mix… I don't want to repeat what he called her!"

Levy give her a gently squeeze around her to let her know that she didn't have to, but Levy, and Gajeel as well from his re-tensed body, had a pretty good idea on what the boy called Carla.

"I told him to apologize to her, but he said make me before pushing me to the ground, saying 'what was I going to do, cry?'."

Levy could have sworn she heard Gajeel growl.

"I got back up and told him to apologize to Carla again. He lunged at me to push me down again, but I… reacted this time."

"How did you react?" the principle asked even though she heard what happened already.

"I gave a quick punch to his solar plexus, hoping that would stop him. It did for a moment but he tried to lunge again and I did side kick, I was aiming for his torso but he was still hunched over so I ended up kicking him in his face instead. After that the teachers came over." With her story done everyone stared at Wendy for a good 30 seconds.

The Principle, seeing the mother was opening her mouth again, spoke. "We have other eye witnesses, several of them were other teachers who saw what had transpired and can confirm Wendy's story."

"So Wendy was defending herself and Carla from a bully. Why are we here?" Gajeel asked, not understanding why they were here when his little sister was clearly just protecting herself.

"It's how she 'defended' herself –"

"What do you mean, 'How'?" Gajeel cut in. A snort from the mother brought their attention back to her.

"What do you think? She obviously learned these attacks from 'someone.'" even though she was sitting she said this as she looked down on him the way she has been since the meeting began.

Gajeel's grip on his chair rest tighten, "Yeah, I taught her how to defend herself from people who'd want to hurt her incase I'm not around to protect her."

"You taught her how to hurt people. My boy would never hurt anyone, his father and I have taught him well unlike you."

Levy swore she could actually see the second his patience snap. The words that flew out of his mouth came so fast that Levy didn't have time to cover Wendy's ears as he let them have it.

"Where the hell do you get off at accusing US of that shit!? We're all here, wasting fucking time on this stupid meeting because she stood up to your bully of son. She did absolutely nothing wrong. And what the hell do you mean he would never hurt anyone? There were SEVERAL other witnesses who saw him bullying them, calling Carla a racist slur, and shoving Wendy to the ground. You taught him well all right, you taught how to target those younger than him and how to try to shift the blame on them. And with 'manners' like that he's going to be an assaulter and abuser by the time he reaches puberty!"

"Gajeel, please calm down," Levy pleaded as she fought to keep her rising panic down.

"How… how dare you talk to my son that way!" the mother gasped. She suddenly pointed between him and Levy. "And I can very well say the same for you. Letting your daughter grow up in such a disrespectable young woman."

Levy knew she should be offended but she couldn't help but blush at her words. Both her and Wendy had pale skin, eye color was almost similar but Levy's were a darker shade of hazel not brown, and though Wendy's hair was a couple of shades darker than her own to outsiders it would seem that Wendy's darker shade was from Gajeel's own black hair. She never realized it till now but Wendy could easily be mistaken for their daughter and the thought was surprising not unpleasant.

Gajeel however, practically spat out his next words. "Do you really have such terrible listening skills or terrible memory? I already said that Wendy's my sister. And it's not her that's going to end up going to prison for battery."

The mother sniffed as she turned her nose up at him. "I don't worry about my son. He has never shown any aggression to anyone that I've seen.

Gajeel let out a snort of his own. "Yea, well kids don't usually show their darker side to their parents or disciplinarian." The mother's heated glare turned up even more.

"If you're implying that I don't discipline my child, you are sadly mistaken. If anyone needs to be disciplined is that girl. It's obvious that she needs a proper mother and father figure and is suffering from the lack of it. And I can only imagine how much her home life is suffering as well from being in your 'care', it clearly shows from her actions today when she beat my son"

Gajeel bristled at that but before he could speak it was Levy who came to their defense red-hot.

"Now that is enough! I have had it your delusional accusations against Gajeel and Wendy. You keep claiming that your son is the victim but the principle even stated, and as pointed out again by Gajeel, that SEVERAL eyewitness, including teachers, saw your son start the confrontation unprovoked. Set aside the fact that he called a little girl a horrible racist slur, he was the one that started the aggressive physical contact when he shoved Wendy to the ground when she tried to be the better person. Yes she hit him but he was the one who laid a ill-intent hand on her first and defended herself when he tried to continue that." The mother opened her mouth but Levy cut her off for she was far from done.

"And who are you say that she's suffering from her home life? You don't know her, you don't know Gajeel, and you certainly don't know their circumstances. She may not have a mother or father in her life but she does have her big brother who fills all those roles. He tucks her in at night, hugs and comforts her when she's frighten or upset, he makes she she's properly bathed, fed, and clothed, takes her to school and back everyday, helps her with her homework or any problems she's dealing, he always makes time for her, and he even changed his career so he could be there for her. He's done more for her than most parents ever do for their kids. So don't' you dare say that Wendy is suffering from being in Gajeel's care, because you know absolutely nothing."

Everyone could only stare at her for no one knew what to say to that. Gajeel himself could only stare at her before a grin formed on his face. He turned to the boy's mother, his grin turning into a victories smirk.

"You were saying that Wendy didn't have a mother figure? Well that's another thing you're wrong about for even though she's not related to her Levy's been helping me raise her, doing the same things that I do for Wendy, even before we got together as if she was." Levy blushed at those words as he continued, "She's not even obligated to be here but she WANTED to be here for Wendy, which is more than I can say for your husband. Where is he anyway?"

The woman began to stutter. "Well, he… he's working, h-he works so many hours…"

"So he can't take time off work when his son is trouble and 'hurt'? Does he even spend time with the kid the way Levy does with Wendy?"

Her face started to turn a deep shade of red. "…W-well… like I said he works and does some meets with clients after work hours so when he is home he's tired… and our boy already asleep long before he even… comes home."

"Says a lot about your and his priorities if you ask me," Gajeel stated, leaving the mother struggling to come back but came up with nothing, leaving her speechless for the first since this meeting began. Gajeel turned to the principal. "So are we done here?

The principle, who had been watching with wide eyes blinked as she attempted to gather her thoughts together. "Th-there's still the matter of discussing their punishments-"

"Seriously!" What is it? Detention for Wendy?" Gajeel growled.

"Well… yes… Wendy will have detention during recess for a week while-"

"Fine, whatever. Come on Wendy, Levy, we're done here." Gajeel got up, gently taking Wendy's hand when she hopped down from her seat, and headed for the door. Leaving the other occupants stunned at this.

"Mr. Redfox we're not done here. We still need to discuss-" she stopped when Gajeel turned sharply back at them.

"There is nothing left to discuss. We know what happened, we know they're going to be punished and what that punishment is and I am DONE talking to that woman. I'm taking Wendy home, she's been through enough."

The principle turned to Levy. "Please Miss Levy, surely you can see that-" she stopped when Levy raised her hand.

"Actually, I agree with Gajeel. There's nothing left to discuss and I think it would best for everyone if we leave. The kids have been through enough today they don't need to see anymore fighting." Levy followed Gajeel, who was holding the door for her. Levy suddenly stopped, turned around and faced the mother.

"I feel obligated to tell you that Carla's parents, the little girl who your son called a terrible racist name, are not going to be very happy when they learn what happened. And if you think you going to try to them what you tried with Gajeel and Wendy you should know that her father is a captain in the police force and her mother is an attorney, so you got another thing coming. Good luck with that." Levy gave the mother a polite wave, who had gone pale white, turned around and walked out with Gajeel and Wendy.

"You shouldn't have done that," Gajeel suddenly said. Levy blushed.

"You're right, I shou-"

"You should have left her in the dark so she would have been completely blindsided when Lily and Shagottee hit. Gihi!" he crackled and Levy find herself joining despite herself.

"So you guys aren't mad?" Wendy suddenly asked. Gajeel picked her up and swung her up to his shoulders.

"Why would we? You fought your first fight and kicked his ass, I never been more proud of ya Baby Blue." He grinned up at her. Wendy smiled but still seemed uncertain.

"If it's about that woman don't pay any mind to her Wendy. You did nothing wrong, you were protecting yourself and Carla from a bully so don't' believe otherwise." Levy added as she patted her leg, she wanted to pat her shoulder but she could reach that high. This time Wendy smiled fully, the light reaching her eyes.

"I'm honestly surprised Carla didn't hit him first," Gajeel said.

"She was going to but I was faster," Wendy admitted.

"Wait, Carla knows how to fight too?" Levy asked, surprised that Carla apparently knew how to fight as well like Wendy.

"Shrimp, her father is cop."

"Right." She really shouldn't have been surprised. Lily was as protective of Carla as Gajeel was of Wendy, so if Gajeel taught Wendy how to defend herself why wouldn't Lily do the same for Carla.

"Alright enough of that. Who wants Mira's hot chocolate?"

"Me!" Wendy cheered.

"What about Erza's commission?" Levy asked, remembering he was in the middle of finishing Erza's sword.

"Barely a half-hour pasted since we left so it should still be in the oil for another half-hour. Rouge can take it out and take care of any warps that develop when he gets there and Sting is finishing up the breastplate so I'm not needed that later. Beside I think we can all agree that we need some pleasant company after that."

Levy nodded in agreement, not bothering to hide her distaste of the thought of that woman and her son.

"Well in that case let's go." Levy cheered as she raced ahead.

"You know running's not allowed in school halls right?" Gajeel laughed as he jogged after her, keeping a safe grip of Wendy's legs.

"Look's who talking." Before they knew it they were out the door and were at Gajeel's truck. As Levy get in her seat she noticed that Gajeel was looking at her, even as he helped Wendy up into the truck. "What?"

"Just thinking about how you ripped into that woman back there." Levy blushed at the reminded.

She scratched the back of her head. "Well she was being unreasonable. All the signs about what happened was practically right in front of her yet she was trying to blame and you guys. I guess I just kind of lost it."

Gajeel chuckled. "Gihi. If that's you losing it, I hate to see you completely snap." Levy sighed as he continued to laugh.

"Was Levy being a mama bear?" Wendy asked.

"I believe she was Baby Blue."

"Hey I was as much as a mama bear as much as Gajeel was being a papa bear," Levy countered.

"More like brother bear." Gajeel started the engine as he drove out of the parking lot Levy said.

"Well if someone ever tries something like that to you guys again I won't let them, you can count on that." Gajeel's remained calm but Levy caught the surprise that appeared quickly before vanishing as he smiled.

"Thanks Lev."

* * *

 **And here is my take on this day's prompt. Not completely happy with the ending but I don't know how else to end it without it being too much. Hope I handle the meeting right; I was homeschooled during elementary school so I don't really know how they handled these kind of situations or punishments. In case you guys are wondering the boy got two weeks of in-school-suspension, heard it's worse then just detention. Again a big thank you and credit for CapAleran2 for helping me with this prompt, kept getting stuck on a couple of lines. CapAleran2 is also participating in Gajevy Week, their work is titled "Gajevy Week 2016 – You and I" so go check it out if you're interested.**

 **There is a video where Man At Arms actually create Erza's sword and armor, it's awesome and so is the final result of it. Since I can't put the link here, go to youtube typing in '** **man at arms erza's sword and armor' in the search engine and it'll be the first video to pop up.**


	5. Forbidden

**Warning of some language from Gajeel here.**

 **Forbidden**

"Where's Gajeel? I thought you two were having lunch here?" Mira asked Levy as she took a seat at the bar. She also noticed that Levy's normal cheerful attitude was instead a bitter one.

"He went home." Levy huffed, "Said he needed to pick up Wendy from a sleepover with Carla then head home." She didn't want to talk about it, just stew for a while. Mira though wasn't going to let her.

"What happened?" Mira gently asked.

"Nothing. What makes you think something happened?" Levy tried to dodge the question.

"Because you hardly ever fight and it takes a lot for you to be truly angry with someone and right now I can see that you're shimmering with hidden bitterness, and not quite anger but you are mad as well," Mira explained her reasoning and that it seemed to take to break the dam Levy tried to build right open.

"He just exploded at Jet and Droy for no reason and when I tried to talk to him he blew up at me and left even though we had plans! He had no reason to let his temper get out of control like that." Levy ranted, she would have gone on but Mira gently places her hands on her shoulders, halting her in her tracks.

"Take a breath." Once Levy took a breath and exhaled Mira spoke. "Now can you explain what happened? From the beginning?"

Levy took another breath and began to recall what had transpired barely an hour ago. "Gajeel and I just left the bookstore, I wanted to go there for a bit before lunch, and we ran into Jet and Droy. You know that they already met Gajeel and Wendy right?" Mira nodded, "So we were just catching up, then they started to ask Gajeel some questions, since they don't really know him even though they met, and that's where it all went wrong…"

* * *

' _So Levy's told us that you used to work for the police?" Jet asked. After running into each other the four had decided to go the nearby park and seat at one of the picnic tables. It was chilly due to the crisp autumn weather but that could where they couldn't be outside for a while before getting too cold._

" _Yeah, I mainly worked undercover though," Gajeel answered._

" _Bet you got into a lot of close calls," said Droy._

 _Gajeel shrugged, "Eh, there were few every now and then. Nothing I couldn't handle though."_

 _Levy smiled as she watched them talk. She was glad that the most important men in her life were getting along, especially since things with Gajeel was starting to get more serious. She's starting to find herself spending equal time at Gajeel's home along with the time she's spend at her own, she actually stayed over the night before while Wendy was sleeping over at Carla's and it was nice._

 _A question that Dory suddenly asked perked her attention._

" _Did you get those scars from one of those close calls?" Droy gestured towards his right arm, which was currently covered by a jacket but Levy knew what scars he was referring to._

 _Gajeel shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, during my rookie years."_

 _Levy frowned at this. "Wait, but I heard Lily mention that you had those scars before you joined the police force."_

 _Gajeel easy smirk disappeared as his body stiffed. Now Jet and Droy were looking at Gajeel in suspicion._

" _Why did you lie?" Jet asked._

" _Are you really going to interrogate me about this? Its just some scars, nothing to make a big deal over." Gajeel huffed, going on the defensive._

" _It's a big deal when you lie to Levy," Droy countered, earning a glare from Gajeel._

" _I never lied to her," Gajeel replied, his body starting to tense now._

" _You just did!" Jet pointed out._

" _That was to you two not her."_

 _Levy tried to intervene, not wanting things to get out of hand. "Guys there's no reason to get into fight over this." Jet and Droy didn't listen._

" _Levy if he lied about something as simple of how he got those scars who knows what else he's lying about," Droy pointed out, Jet nodding in agreement._

" _You two are blowing this out of proportion," Gajeel muttered through clenched teeth._

" _Then tell us how you got those scars if it's not a big deal," Jet demanded. Gajeel bristled._

 _Levy sighed as she turned to Gajeel. "Just tell us, it'll make them stop." Levy barely had time to register the hurt look in his eyes before he explode._

" _My past is none of your fucking business! I don't have to tell any of you a fucking thing!" Gajeel stood up so harshly that the table shook and it was attached to the ground. "I'm out of here!" with that Gajeel stormed off leaving the remaining three occupants shell shocked. Levy shook herself out of it as she scrambled to her feet and chased after him before Jet and Droy could stop her._

" _Gajeel wait!" he continued so Levy sped up and caught his right arm. "Gajeel wha-" she stumbled when Gajeel threw his arm back and dislodged her._

" _What! What now?!" Gajeel snarled causing Levy to flinch before gathering herself._

" _What was that about?" Levy demanded._

" _What do you mean what was that about?! You all were practically interrogating me back there!"_

" _No one was doing anything like that." Levy calmly said but was starting to get annoyed with his attitude. "We just noticed what you said and what we knew didn't add up and we just want to know the truth."_

" _You're calling me a liar now?!" he accused and now Levy was starting to get defensive._

" _I'm not calling you that! But if this isn't a big deal like you said then there shouldn't be a problem with you telling us how you really got those scars." Gajeel form became so tense that he looked ready to lash out at the slightest thing._

" _Levy. Drop it. Now." He hissed, he was warning her to back off for he was at his lmit and while she subconsciously registered that, she was so fed up with his attitude at this point she just pushed him more._

" _Gajeel just tell me already."_

" _I'M NOT TELLING YA SHIT!" Levy recoiled but he wasn't done. "I DON'T HAVE TELL ANYONE, NOT EVEN YOU, EVERY LITTLE DETAIL ABOUT ME OR MY LIFE SO FUCK OFF!" Levy stood stock-still, too stunned to move or say anything back. Gajeel growled, an actual growl, before turning on his heel and stormed out of the park._

 _Seeing his retreating form start to disappear Levy managed to regain control._

" _Ga-Gajeel! Where are you going?" she shouted after him._

" _I'm picking up Wendy and heading home. See ya!" he didn't even glance back at her as he headed down the street and disappeared before she could go after him again._

* * *

"I guess looking back now Jet and Droy were getting a little too persistent, but Gajeel also had no reason to act the way he did either," said Levy. Mira had listen and was thinking of what to say that would help Levy see Gajeel's point of view.

"While I agree he shouldn't have lost his temper, especially with him yelling at you like that, you guys may have been prodding at a… sensitive subject to him." The stunned look that appeared made it clear to Mira that 'that' never occurred to Levy.

Levy thought back and recalled that Gajeel grew tense right when she pointed out that Gajeel didn't get his scars during his time as an undercover cop and the more they pressed him at them the more tense he got till he finally snapped. Even when she went after him he was giving her warnings signs to drop it, but she didn't.

Now Levy was starting to feel a little guilty for pushing him when he clearly didn't want to talk about it, but how he reacted to the questioning towards his scars still bothered her.

"But what could be so sensitive about how he got those scars?"

Mira seemed to be lost in thought for s second, as if remembering or recalling something before saying, "Well while I can't say this for Gajeel but sometimes there are some things that are too personal or painful to share, even loved ones." Levy let that sink in. And before Levy could say anything to that a cell phone went off.

Levy realized it was her cell phone going off.

She checked the number and recognized Gajeel's cell number. _'Wonder why he's calling after what happened? At least I get a chance to apologize for pushing him.'_ She answered the call.

"Hey Gajeel liste-"

"Levy help!" that was not Gajeel on the phone.

"Wendy? What's wrong?" Levy noticed that Mira started to look concern but her sole focus was on Wendy's voice.

"It's Big Brother!" Levy's heart sank.

"What happened?"

"He won't wake up!" Levy had heard of cases when people hear the worst, most heartbreaking news they could ever hear that they sometimes go into a state of shock or even black out, right now she was was torn between the two. _'He won't wake up. He won't wake up. He won't wake up.'_ That sentence kept repeating over and over and was the sole focus of her mind. She didn't understand, she just saw him and though he was angry when he left he seemed fine otherwise so what on earth happened? "-he keeps shaking and I can't get him to wake up!"

"Wait what do you mean? Tell me what happened?" Levy had no idea what was going on and needed to know before she did anything.

"He-he said he was going to take a nap, but he was sleeping longer than he usually does. I went to wake him up but he was shaking and moving a lot. I think he's having a nightmare but I can't get him to wake up! He won't wake up and I don't know what to do!" Wendy's voice broke, indicating she was about to break down crying herself any second.

"Wendy is the apartment and shop unlocked?" she asked, both for the need to know and to have Wendy focus on something to help keep her from breaking down.

"The apartment is but not the door to the shop," Wendy answered with a sniff.

"Okay I'm on my way right now, but if he gets worse don't wait for me call 911." Levy instructed as she sat up and grabbed her purse.

"Please hurry!" Levy hanged up and dashed out without a word to Mira.

"Gajeel please be okay!"

* * *

Once she was on the road it only took 10 minutes to reach Gajeel's shop/home, she even went through a couple of red lights for the first time ever, but to Levy it felt like it took hours to get here.

' _No sign of an ambulance so probably means he hasn't gotten worse.'_ The second she turned the engine off she jumped out of the car and ran to the door and pounded it on it. "Wendy! It's me! I'm here! Unlock the door!"

An agonizing minute passed before she heard the locks click and the door opened to reveal a frighten out of her mind, tears welling at the eyes, Wendy.

"Levy!" she crashed into her legs and hugged them. As much as Levy wanted to embrace and calm the girl she knew she had to get to Gajeel. Thankfully Wendy seemed to realize this and let go of her legs and grabbed her hand instead. "He won't wake! He's hurting but I can't wake him up!"

"It's okay, let me go see him okay," Levy said, not really sure who she was trying to calm down at this point.

"He's upstairs in his room," Wendy said as she pulled Levy towards the back the shop where the staircase was. As they made their way a thousand thoughts flew through Levy's mind.

' _Wendy says she can't wake him, he's moving a lot, shaking, and apparently seems to be in pain. Physically? She said she thinks he's having a nightmare but what kind of nightmare causes this kind of reaction? Could it be night terrors? But that doesn't explain why he won't wake up!'_

Before Levy realized it she and Wendy were in front of the Gajeel's bedroom, it's the door slightly ajar.

Levy looked down at Wendy. "Stay here while I go check on him, okay." She could tell Wendy wanted to follow her, but she nodded.

"Okay, please help Big Brother."

"I'll do my best." She gave Wendy a quick hug before going into the room. She didn't know what she was expecting but wasn't she expected to see Gajeel like this. Gajeel laid in his bed, still dressed for the day, the comforter was wrapped and twisted around his legs, he was shaking so hard that the bed was shaking too. As she cautiously made her way over he began to violently thrash around, tangling himself further in the sheets and comforter, which caused him to thrash even more.

' _Should I even approach him when he's like this? He might accidently hit me. He can manually bend metal for heaven's sake! I don't want to get hit with that kind of force. Was he like this when Wendy tried to wake him?'_ But any regard towards her own safety vanished when she saw his face twisted in paralyzing fear and pain and let out a small whimper. She rushed to his side but was ready to jump back if she needed to.

"Gajeel?" she slowly reached out to him, saying his name hoping that he would hear her. She jumped back when his arm suddenly swung at her, barely avoiding a hit to the face. Levy should have taken that as a sign to back off and try to call for help but when he let out another whimper she grabbed hold of his swinging arm.

"Gajeel it's me!" she called to him, holding on tight as he tried to take his arm back. He pulled back hard enough to send her flying off her feet and crashing onto his chest. He started thrashing again and Levy wrapped her arms around his neck. "Gajeel it's me, Levy. You're okay. I'm not going to hurt you." She spoke in a soothing voice this time and she combed her fingers through his hair with one hand and brought her other hand to his cheek.

He suddenly froze and didn't move but she could feel how tense his body was. She continued the motions and whispered soothing words, hoping it would calm him down. She kept her face buried in his chest, not wanting to see that fear and pain on his face anymore.

She did looked up when she heard. "Levy?" He was awake; the look of paralyzing fear and pain was gone and was replaced with confusion. "What are you doing here? And on top of me in my bed?"

Levy looked down and realized the compromising position they were in. She was lying stretched out across his body, her legs straddling him, and had her hands in his hair and on his face. She blushed so hard that she was positively she matched perfectly with Erza's scarlet hair and quickly climbed off him and the bed. She was saved from having to explain herself when Wendy came running onto the bed.

"Big Brother!" she cried as she leapt into his arms, catching him off guard but he still instinctively caught her and hugged her to his chest, even as his confusion grew.

"What's wrong Baby Blue? What's going on?" he asked. Levy then realized he didn't remember his nightmare or whatever it was he was experiencing just seconds ago.

"You wouldn't wake up!" Wendy cried. Shock appeared and then fell into recognition for Gajeel.

"Ah shit." Gajeel looked over at Levy. "She called you here didn't she?"

Levy nodded. "She was scared, kept saying you wouldn't wake up and when I got here you were thrashing around violent and seemed to be in pain." Gajeel swore again. He looked down at Wendy before looking back at her.

"Guess I have to choice but to explain then. Just, let me take of Wen here first." she wanted to ask but realized this wasn't the time, or at least not with Wendy in the room for this was something he really didn't want her to learn about, at least not yet.

"All right, I'll wait out in the living room." With that she made her way out of the room but looked back at Gajeel, her concern clear for him to see.

She waited for a several minutes before she heard the door open. A few seconds later Gajeel stepped out of the hallway and the sound of another door opening closing was heard.

"Where's Wendy?" Levy asked, as concerned and worried as she was for Gajeel she was also feeling the same for Wendy.

"She alright now. Calmed down when she realized that I was fine. Told her I just had a really bad nightmare and to give me a few minutes to talk to ya," Gajeel explained as he sat next to her on the couch.

"Was it really just a 'really bad nightmare'?" Gajeel looked away. Levy waited for him to speak.

"Sort of. Remember when I told ya that Wendy doesn't get normal nightmares, but relives certain memoires? Levy nodded, remembering that night she stayed over and woke up in the middle of the night to find him holding Wendy in his arms, comforting her. "I get similar ones but react more violently. Didn't know that I had them for the longest time, each time I found myself all tangled or woke up to a wrecked bed I just thought I had a crazy-assed dream. Wasn't till… Juvia stayed over once and woke up to her shaking me awake and her asking me to let go of her arm that I was crushing that I finally leaned about them."

"That makes sense. I've read that people who have night terrors usually don't remember having them and you didn't seem remember it this time either."

"Night terrors. They only ones they seem to scare are everyone but the one who's having them." Gajeel frowned, thinking about Levy's, Wendy's, Juvia's, and Lily's reactions to this. Levy frowned too but for a different reason. Sure he didn't remember when he woke but she remembered the look on his face when he was trapped in it just moments ago. She had never seen someone looked petrified or in such agonizing pain in her life and he was dreaming about it, reliving it.

"How often do they occur?" Gajeel looked at her, thinking for about a few seconds.

"Not that often, usually several times out of the entire year. Though I've noticed certain triggers that cause them to occur, usually I say up all night to avoid them. Don't' know why I thought a nap would be a good idea."

"Triggers?" movement brought her eye to his arm to see him unconsciously gripping his scarred forearm. _'His scars'_ it hit her then. The source of the scars, how he got them, that were what his night terrors were about. He may not remember it when he wakes up but he knew what he was reliving. That was why he never wanted to talk about them, why he try to let people assume and guess on how he got them and why he reacted the way he didn't when she, Jet, and Droy tried to make him tell them, he didn't want to relive it or tell people about it. _'And Juvia was the one who helped him realize he was experiencing the night terrors and they've known each other since high school. Did he have them before they even met? If so just how young was he and what in heaven's name did he go through that resulted in him getting those scars?'_

"Shit, this is stupid. You shouldn't be hearing about this. It's none of your business." He suddenly said harshly. Levy grew annoyed and was about to tell him off when she saw it; the hurt, despair, self-loathing, and fear that he wasn't or couldn't hide behind a blank mask this time.

' _Is he afraid of what I'll think of him now?'_ She knew she had to say something before he started to believe things that weren't true. She leaned against him and hugged his scarred arm to her.

"Gajeel, look at me." He refused to. "Gajeel." She said again more firmly. Finally he faced her. "Gajeel, what ever happened to you, however you got these scars, whatever you've experience or done, it doesn't matter. It won't change how I see you or how I feel about you. You got that? You can tell me later or you can never tell me I don't' care and it doesn't matter, but it won't change anything between us. I'm not going to run away or be scared off, so unless you really want me gone I'm staying here by your side with you."

She didn't give him a chance to say anything before she moved her arms to his neck and hugged him. A few seconds passed before she felt him wrap his arms around her and hugged her tightly against him. She pretended that she couldn't feel his body trembling or the wet spot that was growing on her shoulder, she just continued to hug him as tightly as he was, barely holding back her tears.

"I'll… I'll remember that." She didn't expect him to say thank you, but hearing him say that spoke in volumes more than a simple 'thank you' ever could. She now realized that there were some things in Gajeel's life that he wasn't ready to tell her yet, maybe he never will be, but that truly didn't matter to her. As long as he was willing to let her be there for him, to help with this burden or any others he carried she would stay by his side and nothing about his past will change that, and she was going to help him remember that no matter what.

* * *

 **So he's my take on Forbidden. You hope you enjoy this and for those who are wondering, yes the origin of those scars will be revealed in the sequel to "My Girl". A lot of things mentioned in the prompts will either be reveal in the other prompts or in the sequel so stay turned. Also if the beginning feels off I wrote the last section first and then had to figure out how to lead to it. Sorry about that. And in case you're wondering Jet and Droy went off on their business after Gajeel left but made sure Levy made it to Mira's restaurant.**


	6. Council

**Council**

"Thank you! I won't let you down!" Levy closed the door of the publisher's office and bounced down to hall. _'I can't believe she picked my pitch! If all goes well this article could really give my career a boost! Maybe even a shot at editor-in-chief!'_

Levy reached her cubicle and sat down with a huge smile on her face, ready to get started.

"What's got you so happy? A new book?" Levy looked up to see Lucy standing besides her desk.

"Nope, try again," Levy answered, smile still bright.

"Did something good happen with Gajeel?" Lucy's smile turned coy, Levy blushed at the implication of this guess.

"N-no! Nothing like that! I mean things have been going well since I moved in but that's not it!" Levy took a breath, "My pitch was accepted!"

"Really? That's great Levy," Lucy congratulated Levy as she hugged her, though Levy caught a little unease that briefly appeared.

"But?" Lucy sighed when she realized Levy caught that.

"Getting a interview with a Councilmember for the upcoming anniversary of Fiore's Birthday would be great for _Sorcery Weekly_ , but you know how difficult it is to get them to answer questions or even getting close enough to them at press conferences, getting an interview is virtually impossible."

Levy knew that was true. Fiore was a monarchy and the King was the one with the power but it was the Councilmembers that carried out his laws and enforced them, and because they held the most power besides the royal family themself security around them was just as tight. As a result getting a interview was practically impossible, press conferences were the only times reporters could ask questions and even then it was only questions relating to topic of that particular conference or recent meetings.

"I know and that's exactly why this would be a huge success if I get this."

"Key word 'if' Levy."

"Don't' worry Lu, I'll get this interview and do this article in time for the Fiore's Anniversary issue. I know it won't be easy but really, how hard can it be?"

* * *

"Please! You can set up a meeting place and everything or we can even do a live chat. All I'm asking is just 30, 10, even just 5 minutes of Councilman… can I at least talk to him… okay, I understand. Thank you for your time." Levy pressed the end button on her cell and sat still for a few seconds. "Argh! That's it! I'm doomed!" Levy cried as she slammed her head down at the counter, only for her forehead to meet warm, calloused fingers.

"Don't care how frustrated you are but I'm not about to let ya use your head as a hammer Levy." She looked up to meet Gajeel's eyes before sighing, taking his hand into her own as he moved it down to her cheek. "No luck with this one either huh?"

"No and that was the last one, nine Councilmembers and not one of them will agree to an interview. Worst part is that none of them actually turned me down, not personally anyway, it was their secretaries or whomever it was I was transferred to that did it for them. At least if they had I could have said that I at least talked to them for a few seconds," Levy lamented.

Two weeks have gone by since Levy's pitch got to go ahead and in those two weeks Levy had tried everything to try to secure a interview with at least one Councilmember, from using her and Lucy's contacts, calling various government officials, even tried calling the Council members directly; but all the contacts were dead ends, all the officials transferred her to other officials only for all of them to say that they couldn't help her, and she couldn't even get a hold with any of the Councilmembers when she tried calling them, machines answered, they were dead or more likely false lines, or if it was picked up it was their secretary and they all turned her down. The deadline was due in less than a week but she had nothing.

"At this point I may have to camp outside one of their homes… No, I'll just get arrested for trespassing if I do that. Plus I'd be no better than the paparazzi and I will NEVER sink their level."

"You'll figure something out Lev," Gajeel tried to reassure her.

"Gajeel, my own parents couldn't even get a interview with any of the Councilmembers in their entire careers and they're both the best in their fields. What hope do I have in doing what they couldn't?" Gajeel frowned at this but before he could say anything Wendy walked into the kitchen/living area.

"I ordered the pizza, they said it should be ready for pick up soon," Wendy said as she walked up to where Gajeel stood on his side of the bar counter and handed him the phone, causing him to remove his hand from Levy's cheek so he could take it.

"Pepperoni with olives?" Levy asked, leaning over the counter from where she sat on the other side.

"Yep and a meat lover's pizza for Gajeel."

"Thanks Baby Blue," Gajeel gently ruffled his baby sister's hair before straightening up, "Shrimp go get the pizza."

Levy balked at him. "Why do I have to get it?"

"I got the pizza last week so it's your turn. Plus the drive will do you some good," Gajeel replied with a grin. Levy could only sigh as she hopped down from her seat.

"Alright I'm going. Maybe the drive will do for a nice break," said Levy as she grabbed her purse.

"No more work after six on Pizza Friday! Just pizza and movies and stories and songs!" Wendy exclaim, earning a small smile from Levy. Pizza Friday was a tradition originally started and practiced by Gajeel and Wendy when they first moved in and started his shop in this building, which Levy now joined in when she moved in. Rules were after six o' clock on Fridays all work; schoolwork, metalwork, and editing and other magazine related work, ceased till preferably the end of the weekend, exceptions were made if there were deadlines during the weekend or coming Monday, but Friday nights were always spent ordering pizza, giving Gajeel a break from cooking and any leftover pizza were eaten throughout the weekend, watching movies, and listening to either Levy reading out loud from their ever growing book collection or a new song Gajeel wrote as he played his guitar. Pizza Friday was something Levy came to look forward to very much for it was a great way to unwind after the work week and spend quality time with Gajeel and Wendy, though it didn't look like Levy was going to get much of a break this weekend but that can wait till tomorrow.

"I know, no more work today I promise," Levy said as she grabbed her car keys and coat as she reach the door, "I'll be back with the pizza before you know it."

"No speeding Shrimp and watch out for reckless drivers," Gajeel warned, earning himself a small laugh from Levy this time.

"I know, I know. See ya soon," Levy said goodbye as she closed the door behind and headed down the stairs that lead down to the shop so she could get outside to where their cars were parked.

Gajeel went to the window and watch Levy till she got inside her car and drove down the road out of sight.

"Is Levy still having a hard time with her article?" Wendy asked Gajeel as she came up besides him.

"Ya. Can't get in touch with anyone useful," Gajeel replied.

"Is there anything we can do to help?" when Wendy saw that know-it-all smirk appear on her big brother's face she knew he was up to something.

"Gihi. Oh yes, but first I need to make a call," Gajeel said as he pulled out his cell and pressed a contact number. "Wen, how'd you like to see Granny?"

* * *

Levy started to wake from her deep sleep, however unwilling, when she felt something was missing. She turned and scooted towards the middle of the bed, seeking the warmth of her boyfriend, but instead met empty space. Levy groggy opened her eyes and looked around the room for her absent boyfriend. The clock said the time was 6:30 a.m., causing her to wonder where Gajeel was even more for he always slept in on the weekends till either Wendy woke him up or if Levy was feeling generous and took charge of Wendy till he woke up on his own, usually around 9.

' _That's strange. He even fall asleep before I did.'_ A scary thought suddenly came to mind, causing her to be wide-awake in seconds. _'Is Wendy okay?! Did she have a nightmare? Is she hurt? Sick?'_ Levy leapt out of bed, heading for the door as similar thoughts flew through her brain. _'Why didn't Gajeel wake me if something's wrong with Wendy? What if Gajeel is hurt?! Did he go down to the shop for some reason and slip down the stairs and now he's lying in pain calling for help!'_

Levy opened the bedroom door and promptly slammed into the chest of the man she was about to search for.

"Good, you're up Shrimp. Saves me the trouble of waking your ass," said Gajeel, as if it was normal for him to be up as this hour on a Saturday. Levy looked him up and down, and fully dressed at that.

"What's going on? Is everything okay? Where's Wendy?" Levy asked before said girl walked down the hall from her room, dressed and carrying her bunny backpack with Grandeeney poking out from it.

"Levy you ready?" Wendy asked before realizing Levy was still in her pj's. Wendy turned her attention to Gajeel "I thought you were going to wake her so we can go?"

"I was when she came charging out of the gate Wen," Gajeel replied.

"Wait what's going on? Go where?" Levy asked, bringing the siblings' attention back to her.

"We're going out of town for the weekend to visit Granny!" Wendy stated as she went around them and continued down the hall.

"Who?"

"We already pack so once you're dressed we can head out," Gajeel continued, failing to or most likely intentionally, not giving her a complete answer. Levy looked down the hall towards the door that lead down to the shop to see Gajeel's large duffel bag and one of Levy's smaller suitcases along with her travel bag sitting by it. "I also packed your laptop, notebook, and some books for ya. So hurry and get dressed, the train leaves in an hour." Levy had no idea what was going on or what brought on this out of the blue trip that she apparently missed the memo on. Before she could ask for clarification Wendy interrupted from the kitchen.

"Gajeel! The breakfast burritos are burning!"

"Shit!" Gajeel took off into the kitchen to save their to-go breakfast, leaving Levy alone to try and process what was happening. Deciding she'd find out soon enough she went back into their bedroom to get dressed, but she couldn't help but wonder whom this Granny was and why they were suddenly going to see her.

* * *

One taxi ride later they made it to the train station in time to catch the train and where now on their way to Gajeel only knows where. Levy tried to get him to tell her but for reasons only known to him Gajeel wouldn't tell her where they were heading and wouldn't say more about this Granny of theirs.

Levy looked up from her book to across their booth to where Gajeel and Wendy sat. Wendy was fast asleep, head in her brother's lap, and Gajeel was looking out the window but had a hand placed on his little sister's head, fingers absentmindedly massaging her head through her hair.

Levy smiled at the sight but it soon faded when thoughts of her article surfaced.

' _What was I thinking? I only have till Wednesday to submit my article but I have nothing. What made me think I, an editor for a magazine company, a popular one yes but still just a magazine company, could get an exclusive interview with a Councilmember, nine of the most powerful people in Fiore besides the King and the Princess? Not even my own parents could get an interview and they're the best of the best and they got turned down too. Why did I think that I could do what they couldn't? I failed, simple as that.'_

Levy's thoughts continued down that downward spiral of despair and thoughts of her failure, letting everyone at _Sorcerer Weekly_ down, and possibly losing her job because of her pride and overconfidence. These negative and border lining depressing thoughts were broken when Levy felt a gentle kick at her leg. Levy broke out of her thoughts and looked with a confused expression at the source of the kick.

"ShortyMcShortShrimp quit looking so blue or else we'll get blue and before ya know it we're all be on a train of depression and be as blue and Baby Blue's hair here," Gajeel said softly as to not wake Wendy up. Gajeel paused for a second. "Great, now I want a blues' song. Hand me your notebook."

Levy pouted, trying to stop the smile that threatened to take over.

"Don't you have your own songbook?"

"I do but it's in my bag and as you can see I can't move right now to get it, but now I have the urge to write. Its all your fault, my blue shrimpy muse."

Levy fought but ultimately failed to stop the smile this time as she closed her book and stood up on her seat to reach above them to where their bags were stored. She knew that to outsiders people would think Gajeel was being rude yet Levy knew that this was just his way and that he actually trying to get her free from those negative thoughts that were taking over just seconds ago, and it worked. _'He's gotten good at knowing when I'm down, even better than Lucy. How does he do that?'_

"Sorry if my 'blues' gives you the song writer's itch," Levy said as she dug through Gajeel's bag till she found his worn songbook and made her way back down.

"Don't apologize, you're my muse you're suppose to inspire me. You could be as still and cold as one of Ice Princess's ice sculptures and you'd still inspire."

Levy couldn't help but blush a little as she handed him his songbook and one of her pencils. "Besides there are some impulses you just have to go with."

"Like the sudden impulse to go on this spur of the moment weekend trip out of town to see Granny?"

"Exactly." Levy waited for him to go on but instead he opened up his songbook and began writing.

' _Dam, I hoping he would finally tell me where we're going.'_

With Gajeel now occupied Levy went back to her book and though thoughts of her doomed article kept threatening to take over, hearing Gajeel humming and muttering the occasional lyric under his breath kept them at bay.

40 minutes passed till the intercom came on and announced the arrival at their final destination.

" _Now arriving in Era. Please remain seated till the train-"_

Levy stopped listening as soon as the name of the town was released.

"Era?" Levy was at the window in seconds and there no was no denying the sight in front of her. A large town was just up ahead and smack down in the heart of that town was a high, rocky mountain and sitting right on top of that mountain was the famed Council Headquarters, the seat of power of the Council. "Wh-What?"

She turned towards Gajeel and he just sat there with that annoying know-it-all smirk of his.

"Gajeel." Her tone turned dangerous calm, it was the tone that would send Jet and Droy down on their knees begging for mercy and forgiveness, but Gajeel just shrugged it off as he gently nudged Wendy awake. "Gajeel Redfox you will tell why we are here and you will tell me right now or I'm not getting off this train and will head back to Magnolia by myself."

She knew that he knew that she would do just that. Once Wendy was sitting up again Gajeel turned back to Levy, smirk still present.

"I told ya, we're going to visit Granny."

* * *

After they got off their train they found themselves once again in a taxi, Levy was preoccupied with Wendy who saw a dog and tried to go over to pet it, so she missed it when Gajeel gave the driver the address. She's 90% sure the Mavell-Redfox siblings had planned that, the dog just happened to show up at a convention time and give Wendy a reason to run off, she was positive that if it wasn't the dog it would have been something else.

Levy looked out into the streets as they drove on, everything was covered in a layer of snow, even the Council Headquarters that stood ever present above everything else in this town but the jagged pathway that encircled the sides of the mountain that served as the entrance was clear to allow passage to the top, and she couldn't help but admire the view. As the taxi drove on Levy also couldn't help but wonder about this Granny.

' _Both Gajeel and Wendy called her Granny but is she Wendy's grandmother or Gajeel's? I guess she could be both if she's their father's mother. How come he never mentioned her before though? From what Gajeel told me, or what little he told me, it sounded it like they didn't have any living relatives besides their cousins. So again why haven't I heard of Granny before?'_

Levy began to wonder what she would be like, would she be a sweet old lady who bakes cookies all the times or would she a grouchy, spiteful woman who cursed at everyone who passed by her house?

"Um, you sure you gave me the right address man?" the taxi driver suddenly asked, breaking Levy from her thoughts. Wondering why he could ask a question like that Levy looked out the front and was surprised to see they were in front of a large, iron gate but what really caught Levy's attention was the guards that sat inside and stood outside the booths that stood on each side of the gate and one look at them and anyone could tell that these guards were people you didn't want to mess with.

"Yes I'm sure," Gajeel replied with a hint of annoyance, as if he's been asked this before. As he said this one of the guards came up to their cab.

"Um Gajeel?" Levy was starting to get nervous now. Gajeel lowered his window and leaned out.

"Hey Larry, you stuck with guard duty in this cold?" Gajeel casually asked, as if he's been friends with this guy for years. Levy was stunned when the guard now known as Larry grinned in response.

"Yep, and for the rest of the week too." Wendy suddenly crawled into Gajeel's lap and pulled herself to the window.

"Hi Larry!" she cheerfully greeted.

"Hey Wendy, long time no see," Larry replied with a wave. He looked into the car and saw Levy, who froze the second he did. "Who's this?"

"This is Levy. She's with us," Gajeel explained. Larry looked at her for a second before nodding.

"Alright then," Larry stood back and turned to his follow guards. "Let them through." And just like that the large gate started to open. Larry told the driver that he second he dropped them off he had to drive back out of the area, but other than that he wished them a good day and waved them through.

"… What just happened?" Levy really wanted someone to answer that question more than anything right now.

"The guards don't let just anyone in here, but once Larry recognized me and I vouched for ya we were in the clear," Gajeel simply said.

"That doesn't explain anything!"

"We're here!" Wendy interrupted. Levy looked out to see that they had parked in front of a brownstone style building. When she looked down and across the street there were either similar style buildings or different styles entirely, such as a Victorian and European.

"A lot of these guys wanted to build their dream homes when they moved here and since they have the money and influence who's gonna say no," Gajeel explained as he helped Wendy out of cab as Levy got out of the other side.

"Wait, these are people's homes?" Levy asked as he paid cab driver before they unloaded their bags.

"This is a gated community of Fiore's elites." Gajeel handed Levy her things before throwing his duffel bag his shoulder and followed Wendy, who was running towards the front door of the brownstone. Levy quickly followed after them.

"Elites?" it took a few seconds to remember whom Fiore's elites are. "Wait, when I said that I'd have to camp outside of their houses I wasn't being serious Gajeel!"

"Gihi. Ya really think I'd drag us all the way out here do camp in this? I would have picked a better area for a real winter camping trip."

"You know what I mean!" before their conversation could continue Wendy ring the doorbell, halting their conversation in its tracks. After a few seconds the door opened the moment it did Wendy latched onto the legs of the woman who answered.

"Granny!" the woman bent down and hugged Wendy back.

"Hello there, it's been too long since I've seen you two," the woman said with a pointed look towards Gajeel.

"What? I offered to come over on Christmas since Shrimp was gone but you were the one that said you had business you couldn't get out of," Gajeel brashly countered.

"You could and should have called."

"We did…. A few days later," he muttered, not meeting her eyes.

"Look people in the eyes when you talk to them," she reprimanded him.

"Ya ya."

"It's a miracle Wendy is so well mannered despite being around your rude personality."

As they continued to bicker and move inside Levy could only numbly follow as she stared at the woman who was holding Wendy's hand as she reprimanded Gajeel the way a parent would after not seeing their kid after sometime. The woman wore a purple turtleneck and a long, black winter skirt but her sandy blond hair was in her signature large ponytail that she was often seen in at press conferences and the few pictures newspapers that were taken at these conferences. The same woman who was treating Gajeel and Wendy as if they were her own or as if she was their Granny, the woman who just welcomed Levy into her home was Councilwoman Belno of the Council.

"Oi Shrimp!" Levy jumped in place, startled by Gajeel. She glared at him but stopped when she saw Belno was looking right at her.

"So this is the famous Shrimp. Does she have a proper name or does her parents have a weird obsession with seafood, or even more likely is this one of your strange nicknames?" Belno asked though Levy wasn't sure if she was talking to her or Gajeel. Deciding to take the initiative Levy decided to introduce herself and hopefully salvage her first impression on Councilwoman Belno. _'Though I can't help but wonder what exactly Gajeel has told her about me.'_

"I'm Levy McGarden, it's a pleasure to meet you Councilwoman Belno," Levy said as she did a polite bow.

"Stand up straight girl and drop the formalities, besides if you're this tolerated this rude boy long enough to actually become his girlfriend you earn to the right to just call me Belno." Levy straightens as she tried and failed to cover the small laugh that escaped her.

"And you call me the rude one," Gajeel grumbled as he grabbed Levy's suitcase, leaving the travel bag, which Levy suddenly remember contained her laptop and notebook, everything she used for her job while at home or on the go, with her. _'He planned this! He planned this whole thing and Wendy was in on it!'_

"Come on Baby Blue, help me unpack while these two talk."

"Okay," Wendy let go of Belno's hand and followed him towards a stairway at the end of the hall.

"Wait!" Levy called out to them, but was ignored as the siblings reach the stairs and disappeared up the steps.

"Some things will never change with that boy," Belno suddenly said and Levy didn't know what to make of the fond smile. She turned to Levy and motion for to follow, and Levy did just that. They didn't go very far as they entered a living area with a homey look to it. Levy didn't have much time to look around as Belno took a seat in a plush lounge chair while Levy took a seat at the couch. "So Gajeel has told me you've been trying to get an interview with my colleagues?"

"Um. Yes. I don't know what Gajeel has told you but I'm an editor for _Sorcerer Weekly_ but I also sometimes write articles and I wanted to do an interview with a Councilmember about Fiore's Anniversary and how far it's come from the perspective of someone who helps run it in a sense," Levy sighed and looked down at her hands as she recalled how that had being going or not at all. "But I haven't been able to contact any of the Councilmembers so I haven't been able to do anything with the article."

"And you wouldn't have gotten an interview even if you had a lifetime." Levy looked up at Belno. "None of the other Councilmembers have any high regards towards the media of any kind, even if by some miracle you did contact one of them they would have turned you down with some pretty words but still receive a door to the face. This article of yours would have been doomed to fail if you were anyone else."

Levy felt the despair coming but her mind latched on the word 'normally' and Levy was reminded that she was currently talking to one of the Councilmembers.

"Normally I also turn down all interviews or never bother to answer at all. But Gajeel has spoken almost nothing but good things about you and since you're living with him you're consider almost a member of the family in a way."

"He's talked about me?"

"Of course, when I heard that my son finally started seeing someone I had to hear all about this girl that suddenly caught and kept his attention." Belno stopped when she saw that Levy looked completely shocked and flabbergasted.

"S-Son?! But-but no ones' ever… you don't look… he doesn't look… he and Wendy both call you Granny!" Levy managed to stutter, her mind trying and failing to understand.

"Levy. Breath." Belno sharp tone cut through her and she started to take breaths till she calmed down. Belno waited to Levy was breathing normally again before she spoke again. "We need to clear some things up before we do this interview of yours. You obviously have many questions that aren't related to it."

"Yes. Please, lets do that."

"Alright, so what has Gajeel told you about his family situation?" Levy took a moment to recall everything Gajeel has told her about his family before relaying what she knew.

"He's told me that his father and Wendy's mother married about seven years ago and had Wendy before their first anniversary, and that he was killed when she was 3 by a criminal gang, wrong place wrong time supposedly, and barely a year later Wendy and her mother were in a pile up that, while thankfully Wendy survived with just a few bruises and bad cuts, her mother didn't. He never talked about his own mother so I don't know anything about her but he has said that his parents had him when they were young. I've also meet his cousin Rouge and his and Wendy's second cousins Natsu and Sting respectfully, though their parents have also passed away as well. He never mentioned grandparents or any other relatives so I thought that they were also dead. So you can probably imagine my surprise when I woke up this morning to them saying that we're going to see this Granny that they never mentioned before."

Levy heard Belno sigh before she spoke.

"I see. Well he's told you more than I expected he would."

"What do you mean?"

"Listen when I say this for I will only say it once." Levy sat up straight at this. "There are some things about his past that you need to hear from him so I won't tell you everything. I will tell you what I feel he would be okay with you knowing but everything else you'll have to ask him yourself at a later time. You understand?"

Levy nodded. Belno turned towards the where the stairs were, waiting for any indication that either Gajeel and/or Wendy were coming back down, before giving her full attention to Levy.

"I'm sure you've wondered about the large age difference between Gajeel and Wendy at least once. They're half-siblings but he's also old enough to be her father." Levy nodded, she had wondered about that age difference but Levy never learned just how old their father was when he died. Gajeel said that Wendy's mother had just turned 40 not long before she died but she didn't know much older their father was compared to her.

"Gajeel told you his parents had him young, but he didn't say how young. I want you to do some quick math here." Levy braced her mind but she was confused but how Belno was going at this. "Gajeel was 25 and Wendy was 3 when their father was killed in what will be 4 years ago this year, he 41 when he died."

Levy, finally learning their father's age when he died, did the math.

' _Okay, he was 41, he was only a year older than Wendy's mother, and Gajeel was 25 when he died so if I subtract I get…'_ Levy did the math again to be sure this was right, and every time she got the same number. _'I know Gajeel said his parents were young when they had him but to be this young! And at that day in age?'_

Levy looked up at Belno, shock clear on face as she gave her age she came up with.

"Gajeel's father was 16 when he was born." Belno nodded, confirming the age.

"Two stupid teenagers, both hanging out with the wrong crowd, both were 15 at the time and were either too stupid or didn't bother to think of contraceptives or the consequences, got pregnant with a baby when they were still children themselves." Belno paused to allow Levy to process this.

' _Teenage parents. They were only 15 when they conceived him and 16 when they actually had Gajeel. Wait, Belno said they not...'_

Levy was about to ask but Belno seemed to have realized what she was going to ask and beat her to it.

"Before you even dare say what I'm sure you were going to say I was already in my late-twenties, almost thirty, at that time and married with a son, who was 4 at the time, of my own and living in a different city. The woman who bore Gajeel was the same age as his father and went to the same school and everything."

Levy noticed she didn't call Gajeel's mother by that title, not like she did with his father, but that question can wait for another time.

"But you call him your son?"

"I do for I see him as my son and the annoying papers I had to get say that I'm legally his adoptive mother."

"Adoptive mother? But his father didn't die tell he was in his early forties? How are you his adoptive mother?"

"You can't exactly raise a child when both parents are in prison."

"Prison?" Belno raised her hand to stop her from saying more.

"This is something I will not go into and if you ask Gajeel this don't push him if he won't tell you. But yes, when Gajeel was 4 his parents were sent to prison, under different charges and sentences, and Gajeel went into the foster care system till he ended up in a institution and ran away shortly afterwards at the age of 8."

"What about his grandparents or relatives? Why didn't they take him in?" Belno gave a rude tsk at the mention of them.

"When their parents found out they were pregnant with Gajeel both parents disowned them when they wouldn't give him up for adoption or terminate the pregnancy," Levy stifled a gasp, "Even with both his parents in prison, they either didn't know or more likely simply didn't care or want him. As for his uncles they were college students at the time, barely able to support of themselves, no judge would ever have let either of them have custody of him."

Levy didn't know what to think, she couldn't believe Gajeel's grandparents didn't want anything to do with him. She knew that at the time teen parents were extremely frowned upon, but this was their grandson, their flesh and blood, yet they wanted him gone by either giving him away or by abortion. The thought that if they had gotten their way she never would have met Gajeel scared Levy more than she thought possible. Also the thought of little Gajeel of 4 years old, had his parents suddenly taken away and he himself being sent and bounced from house to house, no one wanting him, till he finally had enough and became a runaway at 8, it broke her heart.

' _He was just a little boy, yet he was on his own for so long. No one wanted him. How could no one want him?_

Levy jumped when a tissue box filled her vision. She looked at Belno in confusion for a second till she felt something wet hit her hand. She touched her cheeks and realized she was crying.

"Thank you," Levy quietly said as she took the box and a few tissues to wipe away the tears. They stopped for a few moments for Levy to calm down. "How did you end up adopting him if he was living on the streets? What did the rest of your family think?"

"They never had the chance to meet him. My husband died from an illness he's been struggling with for years and my son… he's no longer among us either." This time Levy was the one who gave Belno time to collect her thoughts. "Gajeel didn't come into my life till he was 12 and was at his lowest. If we haven't met when we did I honestly believe he would have ending up locked up or dead."

"It was that bad?" Levy didn't know why she asked that but Belno still nodded in response. "How did you find him?"

"Actually, he came to me," Levy raised a brow. "I was a member of the City Council of Freesia Town at the time, one night I woke up hearing noises downstairs. Came down with a metal bat at hand and I find a scrawny brat, wearing mismatch clothes that didn't fit him and a bird nest for hair, raiding my fridge and next to him was a bag that I kept in pantry was filled with my silverware and any food he wasn't gorging on."

"He was robbing you?!"

"Yes, but as soon as he saw me the brat tried to run with my food and silverware, swearing the entire way." Levy immediately imagined a smaller Gajeel running away from the bat wielding Belno while yelling every profanity he knew, she didn't know whether to laugh or cry or do some weird mixture of both. "He didn't get very far though before he tripped and hit his head against the wall, I was surprised the fall was strong enough to knock him out though now I think he lost conciseness so easily because he was in such bad shape. I had every intention to call the cops but when I saw how young he was and the condition he was in, I didn't."

"What did you do?"

"Took him up to a spare room, treated any visible injuries he had, I wasn't going to strip a kid, especially one I didn't know, and let him sleep there."

"Really?" Levy was surprised she did that, she was glad she did of course since this was Gajeel, but not many would have let someone stay in their home after they just broke in and tried to steal from them, even if that person was a kid.

"Don't know what I was thinking at the time and I'm not sure I ever will. Next morning I gave Gajeel a choice. Since he broke a window to get in, damaged my silverware, and ate and spoiled my food, he could either do some chores and jobs around the house till he paid off what the repairs and replacements were going to cost me, in exchange he'll have a roof over his, a real bed to sleep in, and three meals a day or he could back to and try to survive the streets where he'll most likely end up joining a gang and end up in prison or dead in a gutter."

"And he stayed."

"He did. Ended up staying with me till he went off to the police academy at 18. It was far from the picture perfect adoption story. It took over half a year for me to earn his complete trust, for him to realize that I genuinely cared about him and wasn't going to hurt him or use him. And the press had a field day when they somehow got wind that I was trying to adopt a "juvenile delinquent" as my son, almost lost him when he thought that I was only adopting him to further my political career till he learned that it was the opposite."

The opposite?"

"My fellow City Council Members at the time felt for some reason that never made sense to me that it would be bad for their image if one of their own took in some punk kid that no one knew about. They threaten to have me kicked off the City Council if I went through with the adoption. I told them to screw off and if I had to choose between the position or him I would write, sign and turn in my resignation letter myself."

Levy shook her head at how people could believe that they had to right to decide how other people lived or they took in as family, that they would rather have had Gajeel disappear or taken away instead of letting him have a chance at a loving home for possibly the first time in his life.

' _But Belno didn't give him up, she was willing to give up everything she worked for for him._ '

Levy felt the tears fill up again but she wiped them away before they could fall.

"Thank you. For raising him, for giving him a chance, for everything you done for him," said Levy. Belno smiled gently back.

"You really care about him." Belno stated, to which Levy nodded.

"I do. I care about him a lot. If something ever happened to him I honestly don't know what I'd would do without him, and to hear what he's been through, that I could have never met him if things have turned out differently or if certain people have gotten their way, that scares me more than I ever thought possible." Levy's heart also ached greatly at just the thought alone.

"I'm glad that Gajeel has met someone like you." Levy, who had looked down for a second, looked back up at Belno. "He's only had a few good people in his life, the closest being Lily and Juvia, but he's never taken a chance in finding love. Raising Wendy has taught him how to openly love someone, but that's a different kind of love and I was starting to wonder if he'd ever find someone to love him in a way that no one else could and for him to do the same. I'm happy to see that he has." Levy blushed ten-fold till she swear that heat radiating from her face, realizing that Belno was saying that she loved Gajeel and he apparently loved her back.

"I-I-I don't know if I could go as far as to say love not that I'm saying that I don't love him I mean I care about him and we live together but I wait did I say don't love him I mean I do I mean I kind of I mean-" Levy rambled till Belno reminded her to breath.

"There's no need to work yourself in such a state. I understand what you're trying to say." Before Levy could ask what she meant Belno suddenly stood up. "I can hear them coming down and it's almost time for lunch. We have all weekend to do the interview for your magazine; in the meantime I would like to get to know more about my son's girlfriend and enjoy his and Wendy's company while they're here." Levy stood up from her seat and followed her, but Levy was wondering about something.

"If I may ask, how do you know so much about his past. Some of the things you told me he couldn't have known himself since he was either too young or wasn't even born yet to know."

"His father told me and later told Gajeel himself."

"You met?"

"Half a year after the adoption went through, Gajeel was 13, almost 14 then. His father, who went by Metalicana by then, don't ask, contacted me and told me that he was Gajeel's father. I didn't believe him at first but once he told me things about Gajeel that no one but else but the boy himself could have known I gave him the benefit of the doubt."

"I thought he was in prison?"

"He was. He did his time and did some other things that help to get out early. He's been trying to find Gajeel since he was released and learned that Gajeel became a runaway and it wasn't till he found an old newspaper article about me trying to adopt him that he finally learned where he was after all these years. We met and he understood that I was now his legal guardian but he still wanted to be part of his son's life again."

"How did Gajeel take it?"

"Told the old man to go to hell, but he kept coming back, saying that I didn't have to leave Granny or anything, he just wanted to talk. So I agree. Ending up talking, we reconnected and I eventually acknowledged him as my father again." Levy jumped as Gajeel stood at the other side of the corner they turned. "Really need to pay attention to your surroundings Shrimp."

Before Levy could say a word he turned to speak to Belno.

"Wendy's in the kitchen, she wants one of your infamous lunches." Belno flicked his forehead in response.

"Those 'infamous' lunches are the same lunches you begged me to teach you to cook yourself," Belno retorted as she went down the hall towards the kitchen.

"I didn't beg!" Gajeel said but didn't deny that he wanted to learn her recipes; rubbing his forehead he looked back at Levy who was laughing. "What's so funny?"

"You!" Levy managed to say through her giggles. Gajeel raised a studded brow, waiting for her to clarify. "You and Belno. I never see you interact with anyone like you do with her. Its nice to see this part of you."

"Ya, well. She's done a lot for me and put up with all my shit all over the years, more than anyone else had." Gajeel muttered, rubbing the back of his neck.

"How come you never mentioned her before then?"

"Any reason to mention her never came up." He shrugged, a tell that there was more to it than that.

"If you don't want to say that's fine, really." Levy was about to head down to kitchen to join the others when she was stopped by Gajeel's arm.

"It's not that." He paused for a second to collect his thoughts. "You know how we got our current Councilmembers?"

Levy thought for a moment and remembered. Around 10 years ago there was major attack on the Government by a terrorist organization known as Tartaros, while they thankfully failed to kill the royal family they had succeeded in wiping out all the Councilmembers of the time. The country was in turmoil and Fiore launched its largest manhunt in history for Tartaros, while they hunted down many of their members the leader and core members, who called themselves the Nine Demon Gates, were never caught. The manhunt is still ongoing, there's even rumors of a taskforce dedicated to finding them, and the tight security around the Council was the result of the aftermath as to hopefully avoid a repeat.

"I had just joined the police academy at the time and Granny was of the few who was elected to join the new Council. After that when ever people found out that I was related to one of the Councilmembers people either became cautious around me, possibly wanted to avoid the wrath of a Councilmember, or sucked up to me in hopes of gaining connections or favors from her.

"Thankfully that only lasted till I graduated and started going undercover, had to live under a different identity most of time till I retired. Since then the only people who knew about our connection was Lily, Juvia, my cousins and Wendy's, my old man and eventually Wendy's mother and they all knew not to just tell random people."

"You also didn't want to risk someone using that connection to hurt her or use you or Wendy against her." Levy added, while he didn't say it she knew that was one of his reasons, being the protective guy that he is.

"Yeah. There's that." He admitted.

"I won't tell anyone Gajeel, I promise." She earned a smile from Gajeel with that promise.

"I know you won't but thanks Levy." He said as he bent down to touch his forehead against hers. After a few second though he straighten up but without stealing a quick kiss. "Alright enough questions, I hungry." Gajeel took off for the kitchen with Levy behind him.

"Just one more question."

"Fine, what is it?"

"If Belno is your adoptive mother why do you call her Granny? I understand why Wendy does but why do you"

"Gihi! Because she was an old hag when I first met her and she's even more of a old hag now." Gajeel answered with a toothy smirk. He suddenly ducked when a wooden spoon came flying straight at his head.

"Respect your elders your rude brat!" Belno yelled from the kitchen.

"So you admit you're old?" he wasn't able to dodge the second wooden spoon.

"You deserved that," Levy giggled as she made a break for the kitchen to get out of the line of fire. Levy knew she and Belno will have to do the interview before they leave, but now the pressure of impending failure was gone and Levy was planning on enjoying this weekend visit with Gajeel, Wendy, their Granny Belno.

* * *

 **Okay I may have gone overboard with this one, 18 pages and 8037 words overboard, I couldn't help myself! Like his scars, Gajeel's past and his parents' past will be revealed in the sequel. Hope you enjoyed this ridiculously and easily longest prompt. If you have any questions feel free to ask.**


	7. Song

**Song**

"Still working Shrimp? Levy looked up from her laptop to look at Gajeel who was standing by the hallway.

"Yeah, I just want to finish editing this last draft for the night before it gets too late and before I leave," Levy answered from her seat on the bar counter.

"Too late for that Shrimp, it's already late. In fact it's time for Wen to go to sleep." At that Levy looked out the window and was shocked to see it was completely dark out save for the glow of the streetlights outside. Last she looked out he window the sun still out, it was starting to set earlier thanks to the changing season but still. She also looked at the time on her laptop and was once more shocked to see that it was past 9.

"I-I didn't realize how long I was working. I should really head on out then." Levy closed her laptop and moved to hop down with it in tow but Gajeel suddenly came up, how he moves so fast and silently she'll never know, and put his hand on her laptop preventing her from moving it.

"Forget it Lev, you're not about to drive out in dark. Just stay the night," Gajeel suggested but really stated.

"The weather's fine and I need to go to work in the morning," Levy protested though Gajeel was prepared for that.

"You brought you work material with you when you drove here and you also have some of your clothes here from the last time you stayed over, you can change into those tomorrow. There's no real reason for you to drive back when you can crash here," Gajeel countered. Levy opened her mouth to protest but closed it when she thought his words over and realized he was right.

' _I hate it when he's right.'_

"Alright you win. Guess I'll stay the night then," Levy sighed but she had a smile on her face.

"Yeah!" Levy and Gajeel looked back towards the hallway to see Wendy in her pj's cheering.

"Don't know what you're cheering about Baby Blue, you're gong to bed," Gajeel commented.

"Awwww! I want to stay up with you guys!" Wendy whined. Gajeel just made his way back over to her and picked her up.

"No can do Baby Blue. You got school tomorrow and the fact that you just whined gives away the fact that you're tired," Gajeel pointed out.

"I'm not-" Wendy cut herself off with a yawn, discrediting herself right away.

"I'm going to go to bed early anyway Wendy, so you'll be staying up for nothing," Levy added as she got up.

"Bathroom's all yours Shrimp. I'm gonna put her to bed," Gajeel said as he made his way down the hall towards Wendy's room.

"Thanks, mind if I take one of your shirts to sleep in?" Levy asked as she headed towards Gajeel's room.

"Why would I? You look pretty good in them," Gajeel said with grin that turned into a smirk when Levy blushed.

"Gajeel!"

"Gihihi!"

Levy quickly disappeared into his room and set to work in picking a shirt, making sure it was favorites of his, and finding her clothes she left here to set for tomorrow. Once she found them she made to set them on his dresser when she saw something from the corner of her eye. She saw a small book on the nightstand and being the book lover that she was Levy had to read it.

"Wonder what book this is?" Levy asked herself as she picked it up and inspected it. The cover was pretty worn and when she looked for the title she couldn't find one.

"Odd." Levy opened it to the first page and started reading what was inside. She noticed right away that the words were handwritten, not printed, and instead of a story or information she found song lyrics.

"It's a songbook." A voiced nagged at the back of her mind to stop reading but after reading just the first verse of a song titled "My Iron Blues" she had to read more.

As Levy read more and more songs and wrapped herself deeper in them, trying to imagine would they would sound like when sung, she lost track of the time. Suddenly the book was yanked from her hands and Levy blinked several times, registering what just happen. She turned around to see Gajeel standing behind her, holding the songbook well out of her reach, but Levy was startled by the glare he was directing at her.

"I thought you were putting Wendy to bed?" Levy asked, not really knowing what to say.

"I did. Feel right to sleep," Gajeely calmly said, making Levy more nervous. Levy tried to think of something to say when Gajeel turned towards his closest and put the songbook on a shelf.

"You don't need to do that," Levy said before she could stop herself.

"Well apparently I do." The sharp tone in his voice made Levy flinch. She didn't understand why he was angry with her all of a sudden.

' _Was that songbook private? A gift from someone?'_ Levy suddenly remembered seeing a similar reaction before, but from Lucy. She recalled a time when she and Natsu were over at her apartment and Natsu found a manuscript for a story Lucy was working on. Lucy reacted in a similar manner, closed off, defensive, and angry when she saw Natsu reading it. Levy realized then why Gajeel was so mad.

"You wrote those songs.," said Levy. When Gajeel's shoulders shagged she knew she was right. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize I reading something that personal." She heard Gajeel sigh.

"You didn't know. How could ya?" said Gajeel.

"Still, I shouldn't have pried."

"Again, you didn't know you what you were reading something private." Both went silent, neither one knowing what to say next. Levy, wanting to break the silence and hopefully to make things right, risked saying what thought when she was reading the songs.

"You know, I actually really liked the songs you wrote." When Gajeel perked slightly she continued. "Personally I think 'Metallic Kiss' is my favorite and 'My Iron Blues' really hit me."

"Really? I surprised you liked that last one. It was something I wrote when I was… well, at a low point in my life. As for the former that one just came to me one day," Gajeel said with a slight smile on his face, seeing it made Levy realized she was forgiven.

"How come you never sang any of these before? If you don't mind me asking?" Levy asked, truly wondering why since she's heard him sing in front of not just herself but in front of others before. Gajeel snorted at the question.

"What are ya talking about? I've sung some those songs that are in there before. Remember 'Best Friend'?" Levy unwillingly let out an embarrassed laugh. She remembered all right. Gajeel decided to entertain at Mira's restaurant and the reception from the customers wasn't well received. "Not my fault if people don't have any taste in music."

Levy looked between Gajeel and the shelf where the songbook was now stored.

"Could you sing me some of those songs sometime?" Gajeel looked shocked at the question, Levy couldn't help but wonder if this was the first time someone has asked to hear any of his original songs before. His shock quickly disappeared as a smile appeared.

"Why not, you already read them so you might as well hear them in action," Gajeel answered, his smile never leaving. "But for tonight, how about we sleep." Levy barely stopped her yawn in time.

"Sure."

* * *

Levy shifted in her sleep, trying to get back into her dream. Her movements caused the covers to slide down, exposing her to the chill. Shivering and now out of her dream Levy pulled the covers back up and turned over, rolling right back over when she realized the covers gave too easily.

' _Gajeel's a cuddler, he's has to hold something in his sleep, be it a pillow, the comforter, or me.'_ But when Levy looked over on his side of the bed the man in question was gone. Levy sat up and looked around the room but he wasn't here.

"Gajeel?" Levy called out. She looked over at the clock at the nightstand and saw that it was around 3:30 a.m. She had to get up in several hours but she couldn't go back to sleep without knowing where Gajeel went.

Levy got up and exited the room. She looked down the hall towards the kitchen/living area but there wasn't any light coming from there. Nor was there anyone in either bathroom.

' _Did he go down to the shop for some reason?'_ Levy made a few steps towards the door that lead down there but stopped when she heard humming coming from Wendy's room. Curious she made her way to the door which was slightly cracked opened. Pushing the door open a few more inches Levy looked inside the room to see Gajeel laying back in Wendy's bed, his lower legs hanging off the end of the small bed, holding the girl gently in his arms, her head over his heart.

' _What's going on? Is he asleep?'_ the sound of him humming answered the last question but it left the first one unanswered. Levy decided to just ask but before she could make her presence known he started singing.

 _A sunny early Sunday afternoon_

 _Where shall we go today?_

 _It's the same road I'm used to traveling_

 _But I can see it sparking so bright_

 _With the sun shining down its warmth_

 _And you here by my side…_

 _Woah high, high, high_

 _Feel like dashing out_

 _Sing lai, lai, lai_

 _Your voice out to forever_

 _Woah high, high, high_

 _Ride the dancing wind_

 _Sing lai, lai, lai_

 _Our voices can reach anywhere_

Levy hide behind the door as she listened to the rest of the song, not daring or wanting to disrupt whatever was going on. Hearing this song, how Gajeel was singing it as he held Wendy, Levy knew this was a private moment between them. The song was one she never heard before and it was different from anything gajeel had written before, she didn't even find it in his songbook earlier, but she just knew that this song was special and wasn't meant for others to hear.

When the song ended Gajeel studied Wendy for a moment, as if he was looking or waiting for something, he picked up Grandeeny from the side and put her in Wendy's arms, who even in her sleep instantly latched onto, he then shifted down in the bed so he his head rested on the pillow.

' _Is he going to sleep there? But he's bigger than the bed.'_

"I know you're there Shrimp." Levy jumped, she looked through the crack and sure enough Gajeel was looking right at her. "I was trying not to wake ya."

"You didn't. I woke up on my own and came looking for you when I realized you were gone," Levy explained quietly. She looked at Wendy, wondering if she should head back to bed or not.

"You can come in Shrimp, just keep quiet. She just fell back asleep." Gajeel answered, deciding for her. Levy quietly made her over to the bed and sat down on its side.

"Why was she up?" Levy asked. "Did she have a nightmare?"

"If only it was just that," Gajeel grumbled. Levy raised a brow at this. "Baby Blue here doesn't get normal nightmares."

"What do you mean?"

"Her nightmares are… memories of certain events…where she lost someone," Gajeel explained. Levy realized he was talking her parents. She took a closer look at the girl that was nestled in Gajeel's arm and noticed traces of dry tear marks on her cheeks.

"She didn't see them die, did she?" Levy asked. _'Why would I ask that? You don't need to see it happen to have nightmares about.'_ Gajeel didn't answer right away and Levy's stomach sank.

"Our old man was killed. Wrong place wrong time but she wasn't there. Her mother's however. They were in a pile up, Wendy made it out with a some cuts and bruises, but her mother wasn't so lucky."

"Oh, poor Wendy." Levy reached out towards but stopped. She looked up at Gajeel and he nodded, taking that as permission Levy gently stroked back Wendy's hair. It was traumatic enough that Wendy lost both her parents at such a young age and within a year of each other, but to be in the same accident that one of her parents died in? She couldn't even imagine. "Did she dream of her mother?"

"It wasn't about a parent this time. It was about me."

"What? But you're-"

"Alive? I am but I almost wasn't," Levy looked at him to elaborate. "I got wrecked on my last undercover job. I was out of it for a couple days and when I came to Lily told me I almost bleed out, my heart even stopped during surgery."

Levy could only stare after this revelation. He spoke so calmly about it, that the fact he almost died sounded like nothing and that really got her angry.

"How can you speak so calmly about something like that?" she demanded, careful to keep her voice down.

"It was almost two years ago and I knew the risks when I became an undercover cop. It also helped that I wasn't really close with anyone during those years," Gajeel explained nonchalantly.

"What about Lily and Juvia? Your father?"

"Juvia's in the Cost Guard, she knows that one day she may not come back and that it was the same with me. Lily was my handler and later became my friend, he also knew the risks for he has his own. As for my old man he would have hurt if something happened to me but he had his wife and later Wendy. If something happened to me I wouldn't be leaving anyone behind." Gajeel looked down at Wendy and his gazed soften. "But that before our parents died and I took Wendy in. It took me nearly losing my life to realize that I now had something to leave behind and almost left her alone too."

He didn't say anymore but Levy knew the rest, that he retired from not only from undercover work but also from the Police Force and opened his shop sometime later.

' _I remember Wendy saying he got hurt badly once when he was still undercover but I didn't realize how serious it was.'_

"Did Wendy know that you almost…" Levy looked at Wendy, making sure she was still asleep.

"No and I made sure no one told her. That happened almost six months after her mother died. She was already upset that I was hurt, no need to make it worse by telling her that she almost lost the last of her family." He suddenly sighed. "Didn't matter though cause now she get's nightmares about that time only I don't pull through in them."

"And she had one of those tonight." Gajeel just nodded. "Were you going to sleep here?" Levy suddenly asked. Gajeel looked around, not meeting her eyes.

"Well normally when she has a nightmare she sleeps with me but since you're here and we didn't want to wake ya I'm settling here for the night." Gajeel answered. Levy however wasn't going to accept that.

"Oh no, I'm not kicking you out of your bed. Besides this bed is half your size, it can't be comfortable," Levy protested.

"It's fine Shrimp, I've slept in worse."

"But this is your home and you shouldn't have to sleep in worse. Come on back to your bed and bring Wendy with you." Gajeel looked back at her, thinking for second.

"Fine, but only if you come to bed with us."

"It'll be just like the first night I slept over, only this time in a bed," Levy said with a grin, causing Gajeel to grin back.

"Alright, help me up then Shrimp." Gajeel started to shift around so he could get up. It took few tries and close calls with Wendy but eventually Levy was able to help get Gajeel on his feet.

In less than a few minutes they made their way back to Gajeel's room and were settled back in his bed, Levy on one side of Gajeel and Wendy nestled into his other side her head still over his heart and Grandeeny in her arms. Levy felt her eyes drooping but she was wondering about one more thing.

"What was that song you singing to her? I never heard it before but it doesn't sound like anything else you've came up with," she asked.

"Crap you heard that," Gajeel muttered under his breath.

"Is it private?" Gajeel shook his head.

"Not really, it's more personal. I wrote that song for Wendy shortly after I retired, her nightmares were really bad then and my 'accident' made them worse, she was barely getting any sleep. But every time I sing that for her it does the trick every time."

"I can understand why, its really good song. Like I said it's different from what you usually write but the fact that you wrote a song for Wendy makes it so much sweeter," Levy smiled and she could have sworn Gajeel was starting to blush.

"Ya ya, just don't go telling anybody," he grumbled, facing away from her.

"I won't, but on one condition."

"Fine, what is it?"

"Can you sing it again? Just this once?" Gajeel looked at her, surprised clear on his face even in the dark. His surprised turned into a smile and it was Levy's turn to be surprised when he suddenly brought his arm around her and pulled her against his side.

"Gajeel?" she stopped when he started to sing. Levy listened as she got comfortable against him and as the last verse was sung she fell asleep.

Gajeel looked at her for a few seconds, idly brushing some hair out of her face. He gently nuzzled her hair before getting comfortable himself and following the girls into dreamland, but not before muttering.

"Now I need to write a song for you Levy."

* * *

 **Had a hard time coming up with something for this prompt till I eventually came up with this. The song Gajeel sings is the ending song of 'Usagi Drop' 'Kasarinchu' like Levy noted it's not a song typical of Gajeel but I think for Wendy he would write her sing her that's in a different style to cheer her up. Since links can't be posted but if you're interested in finding the song you can find the full version on Youtube type in "Usagi drop ending song" and it should appear on the top. I used a different version of the English lyrics to try to fit Gajeel's style more. Also 'Metallic Kiss' and 'My Iron Blues' are songs from the Fairy Tail soundtracks sang by Gajeel's Japanese voice actor.**


	8. Jealousy

**Warning for language from Gajeel**

 **Jealousy**

Levy sighed as she held the phone to her ear. "Gajeel, I'm almost to Wendy's school already. I'm literally just a block away, there's no point for you to leave the shop," she argued.

"There's suppose to be a blizzard coming, I don't want you two walking in that storm." Gajeel tried to counter.

"Gajeel, the weather report said we're getting an inch of snow. Tomorrow."

"Since when has the weather report ever been right?"

"There's also the fact that there's not a single cloud in the sky right now."

"Weather can change like that, Shrimp." Levy heard a snap on his end.

"I know what you're up to and you need to finish that construction order." She heard him groan at his end.

"But it's so mind numbing! Its just pillar after pillar! I can't take much more!"

Levy couldn't help but sympathize with him. She also was all too familiar with mind numbing work, she shivered at the thought of proofreading and editing over several dozens manuscripts copies that usually took her all day and night, and for Gajeel that was commissions from construction companies. They paid well but making dozens of the exact same order took its toll on him, it even took a toll on his cousins, but they could switch out while Gajeel, who was the best with handling iron and steel, didn't have that luxury.

"Tell you what, Wendy and I will stop by your favorite take out place and we'll bring some home for dinner tonight." Levy offered, hoping that would cheer him up.

"You mean it?"

"Yes I mean it you, big lug."

"You're the best babe!" Levy couldn't help but giggle in response.

"I know. We'll be home in an hour so we'll see you soon."

"Fine." Gajeel groaned in defeat, "I'll see ya in hour. Stay safe, Lev."

"I will. See you soon." With that, Levy pressed the end button and started to put her cell away in her purse. She only looked down for a few seconds but the next thing she knew she ran into something solid and stumbled back, thankfully the force wasn't enough to send her falling.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to crash into you," Levy heard a male voice say.

' _I walked into a person? Figures.'_ Something about the voice nagged at Levy but she wasn't sure why.

"No, no, it was my fault I wasn't looking…" Levy trailed off when she looked up and saw the man's face. Once she did she realized why his voiced sounded familiar, the man she just walked into was her ex-boyfriend, Aden.

Levy was so stunned by this that she didn't know how to react, Aden seem to feel the same way when he realized who he ran into as well. It didn't last when Aden broke the silence. "Levy. It's been a while hasn't it." Levy broke out of her trance and regain her composer.

"Yes, two years in fact." Levy responded coolly. Aden looked away for a second, having the decency to look a little guilty.

"Yeah, guess that's partly my fault." Levy couldn't help but bristle a little when he said that.

"What is? The part where you ignored and avoid me for the last three weeks were we together, or getting caught in bed with another woman who you've been cheating on me with for that last month?" Levy didn't even try to hide the bitterness in her voice. Aden flinched, which Levy couldn't help but feel a little satisfaction in it.

"Both?" Levy was getting more annoyed and even a little angry the more she stood there with him. When the near by church bells started ringing, signaling the time was three o' clock, Levy remembered where she was going and that Wendy was now being let out of school.

"Look," Levy sighed, "I actually have to be somewhere right now so I need to go. Goodbye." Levy walked around him, facing straight ahead as she quickly walked towards the crosswalk.

"Wait!" Aden called out, his voice closing in. Levy sped up and managed to cross the street in time before the light changed, leaving Aden stuck on the other side. "Levy!"

She ignored him as she hurried to the school to pick up Wendy, hoping her presences and thoughts of heading home to Gajeel will shove her ex out of her mind.

* * *

"Okay, if 'er' means more and 'est' refers to the most, which one would you add to the word 'funny' to properly complete this sentence?"

"Funni **est**! Too easy!" Wendy proudly proclaimed as she finished her English worksheet.

"Correct! You don't even my help anymore, you know what you're doing," Levy gently teased.

"But I want your help! You're the reason I know this stuff already," Wendy responded, not wanting Levy to think she didn't need her anymore. Levy smiled as she leaned over from her chair to hug Wendy to her side.

"And I'll gladly help you when ever you need it." At the sound of the door opening both girls turned to see Gajeel entering, rubbing the back of neck as he closed the door behind him. "You done for the day?"

"For the day. Still got another dozen to do tomorrow." Gajeel groaned out. "What about you, Baby Blue?"

"Just finished!" Wendy beamed so brightly that Gajeel couldn't help but smile back.

"Now that everyone is free for the day we can finally eat once you take a shower," said Levy, referring to Gajeel.

"Why? I can eat now," Gajeel questioned.

"Yes, you could but you stink. I can smell you from here," Levy complained, fanning her nose to emphasize the strength of the smell of his B.O.

"Oh?" Gajeel suddenly smirked and Levy's stomach sank. "How about now?" Suddenly he was right behind them and draped himself over them, an arm over each girl, making sure his sweat soaked hair fell on them too.

"Gross!" Wendy yelled, struggling to break free though she wasn't doing any better than Levy.

"Gajeel!" Levy yelled as she swatted at him till he finally let go and made a dash down the hall and retreated to the bathroom, crackling the entire way. "Oh he's so going to pay for that. But first." Levy looked down at her shirt and the new sweat spots, courtesy of Gajeel. "I need to change."

"Me too," Wendy moaned, sporting similar sweat spots on her shirt as well.

"Alright. Let's change and then we can plan our revenge while he's occupied," Levy winked at Wendy, earning a giggle as Wendy headed towards her bedroom and Levy headed towards her and Gajeel's room. In a matter of minutes she changed into a pair of sweat pants and a comfy over-sized shirt and already thought up a few ideas to get back at Gajeel.

Just as Levy finished putting on a new headband she heard her cell ring back in the living area.

' _Wonder who that is?'_ Levy hurried out of her room and picked up her cell, not bothering to check the number since the only people who had her cell number were her friends, parents, work, and Gajeel.

"Hello?"

"Please don't hang up!" A familiar voice called out, but it wasn't Lucy or any of her other friends or family.

"Aden?" She asked. To say she was surprised was putting it mildly. "How did you get my number?"

"I still have it from when we were together. You never changed it."

' _Note to self. Change cell number or better yet, block him.'_

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't hang up right now and block your number?"

"Please Levy! I just want to talk! Please, just five minutes!" Aden begged on his end. Levy wanted to hang up but her kind nature decided to hear him out.

"You have five minutes. Go."

"Alright, first off I'd like to apologize for everything. For how I treated you back then, and for cheating on you. I know it doesn't change what happened, but I am sorry."

Levy waited for him to continue. When he didn't Levy spoke next.

"That's it? You called just to apologize? If so, then I appreciate it, but if that's all I'd very much like to get started on my dinner."

"There's more. I was hoping I could do a proper apology, in person."

"What do you mean?" She didn't like where this was going.

"I was hoping we could meet up in person, go out some-"

"No! I will not go on date with you!" Levy almost yelled into her cell, barely catching herself in time to keep her voice down, but her tone spoke volumes for her.

"Sorry! Bad choice of words! I meant that I wanted to meet somewhere where we could talk in person."

"And why would I agree to that? You just apologized, there's no reason to meet."

"Like I said, I want to properly apologize to you in person. Also since we ran into each other earlier it opened up some feelings I thought were put to rest. I don't know if you're going through something similar, but if you are than think of this as a way to get some closure, for both of us."

Levy thought about what he said and thought she hated to admit it he was right. Since earlier that afternoon all the feelings Levy had felt towards Aden, the hurt, the anger -and even resentment- had resurfaced. Although Wendy and Gajeel helped to keep her distracted, the feelings were still there and threatening to rise. She never felt these kinds of feelings towards anyone before and she didn't want them to fester and interfere with her relationship with Gajeel.

' _Maybe it will help to get some closure. Last time I saw him was when I caught him in his apartment that day. Didn't speak to him again so we never really talked or anything.'_

Levy sighed and gave Aden her answer.

"Fine. But just this once and we're just meeting to talk and to hear that apology in person, nothing more." Levy wanted him to be clear on what exactly their meeting was and didn't want him to get any ideas.

"I got it. Are you free Saturday?"

"Yes, I am."

"Alright, so do you want to meet at our old coffee shop?"

Levy wanted to say no, she did not want to go back to that coffee shop, where they had their first date at and became their hangout. But because the snow was still in abundance they couldn't meet in a park, where she'd much rather meet, without freezing.

"Works for me. Will eleven work for you?"

"Yeah. So I'll see you then?" he sounded a little hopeful for some reason.

"Sure. See you then." With that Levy hung up, not really caring that it was rude. Levy let out a breath as she thought about what she just agreed to.

"Levy?" she looked up to see Wendy, now wearing a new shirt, at the hallway entrance.

' _How much did she hear?'_

"Hey Wendy. Want to help me set up dinner?" Levy asked wanting to avoid talking about her ex-boyfriend to her current's little sister.

"Sure." Wendy nodded and followed Levy to the kitchen where the take-out food was. It was then that Levy had a sudden thought.

' _Oh no. Do I tell Gajeel about this?'_

* * *

"Sorry Juvia is late!" Juvia said as she reached the table where Levy and Lucy sat.

"It's alright, I'm the one that should apologize for asking you to come while you're home," Levy said as Juvia took a seat.

"Juvia doesn't mind at all! Gray's busy so Juvia would have spent the day alone if you haven't called." Juvia reassured.

"And I come here with you for our lunch breaks anyway," Lucy added. "But you also said that you wanted to talk to us about something?"

"Yeah. I did, I do" Levy answered. Last night after dinner, while Gajeel was preparing a bath for Wendy, Levy called both Lucy and Juvia and asked if they would meet with her during her and Lucy's lunch break at a café near their work. Now that they were here Levy really needed to talk to them both.

"I'll just get to the point. I ran into Aden yesterday," She noticed Lucy looked surprised, as she expected, and was about to open her mouth to say something when Levy continued. "He also called me later, apologized and asked if we could meet up on Saturday to talk and to let him properly apologize, and I agreed."

"Why did you agree to see him? Especially now after all this time?" Lucy asked calmly but Levy could tell that she was keeping her voice down because they were in a public area. Juvia however, was confused.

"Who's Aden?" Juvia managed to ask before Lucy could go into a questioning rant.

"My ex-boyfriend," Levy answered as Lucy provided more details.

"Who was also her first boyfriend. They were together for 3 months, but during the last 3 weeks he started to cut her off; didn't call or take her calls, cancelled dates, till he was just flat out avoiding her. Turned out he was seeing another woman and was found out when Levy went to his apartment to surprise him and caught them in bed. That was two years ago."

"He cheated on you?" Juvia asked, completely outraged that someone would do that her friend. It actually took a few moments for Levy and Lucy to calm Juvia down enough to where they were sure that Juvia wasn't going to hunt Aden down. Once she did Juvia asked what Lucy was wondering too. "Why do you want to see him after what he did?"

"It's because of what he did and how we handled, or didn't handle it is why I agreed to talk to him." Lucy and Juvia waited for her to clarify. "When I caught him that day I just turned around, said that if he wanted to screw with other women all he had to do was say so, and I left. I didn't hear from or speak to him again till yesterday and it made realize we never really end it. We did break up but that was mostly implied and the questions I had back then have resurfaced and I don't think I can fully move on till I have them answered, and that means I have to talk to him."

"So you want closure?" Lucy asked.

"Exactly."

"Well. I personally think he doesn't deserve to talk or see you again, but if this will help you then… Wait, are you asking for approval?"

"Yes. No. I don't know, I just needed to talk to someone about this." Levy admitted.

"Um, Juvia understands why Levy would want to talk about this with Lucy since she seems to know him, but Juvia has never met Aden or even heard of him till now. Why do you want talk to Juvia about this too?" Juvia asked, not understanding why Levy wanted her here for this.

"Well. I haven't told Gajeel about this and I'm not sure how to tell him. I don't know how he'll react to hearing that I'm going to meet up with my ex-boyfriend."

Now Lucy and Juvia understood why they were both here. Lucy was Levy's best friend and knew what Levy went through with Aden and supported her afterwards, and while Juvia didn't know Aden she did know Gajeel, having been best friends since high school, and the best person, besides Lily but Levy didn't want to talk with him about this, to know how he would react to this. Or so Levy hoped.

"Gajeel never had a girlfriend before Levy and has briefly dated a few women before so he never dealt with exes, his own or others, so Juvia can't say for sure how he'll react." Juvia explained. "Though he did beat up my ex-boyfriend Bora when he broke up with me for being too gloomy back in high school."

Levy could feel anxious sweat appear when she heard that. If Gajeel reacted that way for his best friend there was no telling how he'll react to learning what her ex-boyfriend did.

' _I may not hold Aden in much high regard anymore but I don't want Gajeel to attack him.'_

"Still." Levy broke out of her thoughts when Juvia continued. "Juvia thinks Levy should tell Gajeel before you go see this Aden. Better he hears this from you and not from someone else where he'll more likely get the wrong idea."

Lucy nodded in agreement with Juvia. "Things could get ugly fast if he learns about this from another source somehow and believes there's more to it then just talking for closure."

' _They're right. I don't want to give Gajeel the wrong idea or give him a reason to doubt our relationship. I have to tell him.'_

"I guess I should tell him tonight then since I see Aden in two days," said Levy.

"Just tell him what you told us. I'm sure he'll understand once you tell him why you're going to talk to him, " said Lucy, trying to reassure Levy.

"Juvia is certain he'll understand. You also never give him a reason to doubt you, he's trusts you," Juvia added.

' _Let's hope he'll still trust me when I tell him and after this whole thing with Aden is over with.'_

* * *

Levy looked up from her book she was reading -or trying to read- towards the master bathroom, waiting for Gajeel to come out. Since she came home from work and after talking with Lucy and Juvia about what was going on, she's been trying to find the right moment to tell Gajeel about Aden, but there so far there hasn't been any without Wendy or their cousins being in the same room as them.

But now the shop was closed for the day, their cousins have left, Wendy was asleep, and she and Gajeel were about to go to sleep themselves once he finished up in the bathroom. This was Levy's last chance to talk to Gajeel.

' _I suppose I could try tomorrow, but I rather get this done and over with. Besides, there's no guarantee that I'll be able to tell him tomorrow. This is something I need to tell him sooner rather than later, especially not at the last second later.'_

Levy had turned back to her book when the bathroom door opened and Gajeel stepped out. He didn't say anything as he threw the covers back on his side and collapsed face first onto the bed, not even bothering to pull the covers back over himself.

Levy realized then just how exhausted he was from working on that construction commission and the poor guy still wasn't done.

' _He looks ready to fall asleep any second, if he hasn't already. Maybe this isn't the best time to tell him? I'm sure I'll have another chance tomorrow.'_

"Just say it already Shrimp."

Levy jumped a little, dropping her book that fell to her side; she looked down to see Gajeel looking up at her through one opened red eye. "You've been staring at me for over a minute and honestly, it's starting to unnerve me so whatever it is you want to ask just ask already so I can sleep."

Levy laughed nervously at being caught. "It's not so much I need to ask you something so much as I need to tell you something."

Gajeel turned his head more so he was looking at her with both eyes now, waiting for her to continue.

' _Okay so how can I tactful about this? Do I beat around the bush? Do I explain to him what happened or-'_

"I'm going to meet up with my ex-boyfriend Aden tomorrow."

' _Or just blurt it out like that.'_

"What?" Gajeel was awake now. He pushed himself up and rested on his forearms and stared at her in shock. Levy mentally face-palmed, realizing she could have worded that better.

"It's not what you think!"

"And what am I to think Levy?" The fact that the said this and her name so calmly but his eyes betrayed his true emotions made Levy realize she needed to properly explain. And quickly.

"I ran into him yesterday on my way to pick up Wendy, it was right after we finished talking, I went on ahead because I didn't want to talk to him and had to get Wendy. Though later that same day when you where in the shower he called me, he apparently still has my number. He asked if we could meet on Saturday so we could properly talk. I have no intention of seeing him again after this, the only reason I'm doing is to get some closure. That's it, I swear." Levy said in a rush then paused, waiting for Gajeel to say something.

"What do you need closure for?" Gajeel face was still stoic so she couldn't tell what he was thinking.

"We met several years ago when I just started working at _Sorcerer Weekly_ , we got along well, shared similar interest and hobbies, and when both of our careers were on track we started dating and eventually became a couple. But our relationship of three months ended badly when he started to avoid me during our last month together. Caught him in bed with another woman and that was the end of that."

She saw Gajeel bristle.

"Though because it ended it so suddenly we didn't talk for two years so all the questions and feelings I had haven't been dealt with. I'm meeting with him so I can finally get those questions answered and those feelings dealt with, I don't want them to fester. Please believe me when I say that I'm just meeting him to get that closure, it's nothing more or other than that." She waited with baited breath for his response.

"You should have said that from the start, Shrimp." Levy let out a squeak when Gajeel suddenly wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her against him. Levy looked at his easy smirk with surprise.

"You're not mad?"

Gajeel cocked a studded brow. "Should I be? You're just meeting with this guy to get that closure you talked about, nothing more to it than that. Right?"

Levy smiled back as she nuzzled his clothed chest. "Right."

"Just." Levy looked up at him when he hesitated. "Just promise me if this guy tries anything you'll call me."

"We're meeting at a coffee shop so I highly doubt he'll try anything in public. Plus he may be a cheater but he's never been aggressive towards me or anyone that I know of." Levy sighed when she saw the slight concern was still there. "But I promise if anything happens I'll call you."

"That's all I'm asking Lev." Gajeel pulled the covers over them, pulled her closer, and buried his face in her hair. "Now I can sleep."

Levy giggled as she wiggled against him, making herself comfortable as she placed her head on his bicep and following him to sleep. With her worries for Gajeel now rest assured, that just left her meeting with Aden.

* * *

Saturday had arrived and Levy was now entering the coffee shop, looking around for Aden to see if he arrived before she did. When she didn't see him she checked her watch to see if she was early. Her watch said 11:01am so she was pretty much on time.

' _Is he running late? He's the one who desperately wanted to meet me in person.'_ Levy tried to rein her borderline hostile thoughts when she heard his voice.

"Over here Levy." Levy looks the middle of the shop to see Aden sitting a table, waving for her to come over.

' _Let's get this over with.'_ She walked over and took a seat across the table. Once she sat down though they both sat there in silence for a good several minutes, neither one knowing what to say. _'Well, this is awkward.'_

"So… how have you been?" Aden suddenly asked.

"Um… good. I've been doing well." Levy answered, playing along for now. _'I thought he wanted to apologize in person? Maybe he's just breaking the ice before he does?'_

"That's good. You still work at _Sorcerer Weekly_? You editor-in-chief yet?"

"Yes to the former, but no to the latter. Though my last article has done wonders to increasing my chances of getting that position when it opens up."

"I read that one, your interview with Councilwoman Belno. I heard that that issue alone sold more copies than any past issue in that _Sorcerer Weekly_ history, it even beat some sales records of other magazine companies." Aden complimented.

"I didn't realize," Levy admitted.

"How did you snag an interview with one of the Council members?" Aden asked, eyes gleaming with anticipation of gaining this knowledge. Levy however wasn't going to give him that knowledge.

"Sorry, that's a secret." Levy replied, trying not to take too much satisfaction when his disappointed was plain on his face. _'No way am I telling anyone how I know Belno. Besides I have questions of my own that I need answered.'_

"Okay enough banter, lets talk about what I came here for."

"Right." Aden ran his hair through his auburn hair, a nervous habit of his that Levy couldn't help but recall. "I know I said sorry over the phone, but I really am sorry for what I did to you. For ignoring and avoiding you the last three weeks we were together and for cheating on you. What I did wrong and despicable and again I apologize for it and for causing you pain."

Hearing this apology in person had a completely different affect than hearing it over the phone. It actually eased the hurt from that time, but not completely.

"Why did you do in the first place? We worked together when we were both starting out and finally decided to give us a shot when our careers were on track. We barely made it two months before you started cheating and avoiding me. Was I not good enough? Was it because I wanted to wait till marriage? I thought you said you were fine with waiting?"

' _Apparently not since I caught you in bed with another woman.'_ She left that last thought unspoken but these were the questions that have haunted her all those years ago and were once again plaguing her since running into Aden.

Aden let out a heavy sigh before he began to try and explain himself. "As clique as it sounds, it wasn't you. It was me." Levy did an internal snort at that. "I had another girlfriend before you and though it didn't work out the pace we had was faster then we were and I guess I felt it was going too slow for me. I mean we dated longer than the average time most people do before becoming a couple, you never even just spent the night over or let me stay over even after we became official.' Levy opened her mouth to retort but Aden continued.

"So when I met someone who was willing to go at a faster pace I…" he trailed off but Levy finished for him.

"You started sleeping around behind my back and started to avoid and ignore me." Aden just nodded. "Why didn't you talk to me? Or break up with me? Do you know how much it hurt me to find out my boyfriend was not only cheating on me, but was also sleeping with other woman? What it did to my self-esteem? Do you know how many times I wonder why my boyfriend would prefer another woman than his own girlfriend?" Levy trailed off as she fought back unwanted tears that were filling up her eyes. She was not going to cry in front of him, she was done crying over him but that didn't stop the old pain from then from resurfacing.

"I was a coward." Aden sighed, "I didn't want to want to go through a confrontation with you so I found it easier to avoid you. I thought it was better for everyone if I did. Though I didn't plan on you finally tracking me down at my home."

"Clearly."

"Wasn't till afterward you caught me in the act and broke up with me and her leaving me too that I realized what I did was terrible."

Levy was confused by something he just said, "Her? You mean the woman you cheated on me with?" Aden paused.

"Yeah… I don't remember her name but she left me not long after you did."

' _He doesn't even remember the name of the woman he cheated on me with! If that's suppose to make me feel better, it doesn't!'_

"What I did was terrible and I don't blame you if you never forgive me. But if you'll let me I would like to at least try to earn your trust and forgiveness back. Maybe start over from the beginning?"

Levy just looked at him, stunned. "What do you mean by 'starting over'? Like as friends?"

Aden nodded. "Or even start as acquaintances again and work towards being friends again?"

Levy found herself conflicted. He had hurt her in such way that almost completely destroyed her self-confidence and self-esteem, made her afraid to date again incase it happened again for if someone she considered a friend first before finally dating didn't want to be with her why would any other man? And here he was asking if they could start over as if it was that easy.

' _Maybe it is? He's not asking to get back together, he's asking if we could try to work towards being just friends. And when I think back we seemed to get along better as friends than we did as a couple. Maybe we could be at least friends again, in time of course.'_

Levy believed in second chances and Aden was asking for one to possibly revive their friendship at least and she found herself wanting to give him that chance.

Her scarf suddenly felt a little constricting. Levy went to remove to and tuck it away.

"If you just want to be friends again than maybe we-"

"What's that?" Levy was thrown off when Aden suddenly asked and stared at her neck. She looked down to see her locket, wondering if that was what he was referring to. "I didn't know you were into dragons?"

Levy picked up her locket and fondly admired the iron dragon and the book charm it was protectively curled around. "Yeah I developed an interest in them, especially since this was a Christmas gift from my boyfriend." When she heard him choke she looked back up at him to see him coughing. "Are you okay?"

Aden waved her off as he calmed down enough to breath again. "Bo-Boyfriend? You have a boyfriend? Since when?"

Levy was a little puzzled by his reaction but figured it was because the last they saw each other was two years ago and lot has changed since then. "Technically we've been official since New Years', but I met him last spring and started dating during the summer."

"Oh." He looked down at his coffee. Levy wasn't sure what to make of his sudden change in attitude. "So how are things between you two?"

"Oh, great! Things are great with us." Normally Levy would say more whenever anyone asked how things were between her and Gajeel, but seeing how Aden just found out and seemed down cast, it made her hesitate. She stared curiously at him before he spoke.

"Well, that's good, I guess."

She watched as he fidgeted with his fingers and felt a pang. ' _What am I feeling guilty for? This isn't my fault, none of it is. It's not my fault if I moved on from him.'_

She bit her lip as she thought, her eyes scanning his face. He looked as though he was wanting to say something.

"What?" She finally asked.

"How great?" He answered with a raise of an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?" Her expression turned to one of genuine confusion.

"Exactly what I meant."

"Okay you need to explain because you're not making sense."

He huffed out a quick breath and leaned slightly forward in his seat. His piercing grey eyes stared sharply at her. "How 'great' is it with you and your boyfriend?"

Levy paused for a second, not expecting that question at all but then started to defend their relationship. "Our relationship is solid, we've been official for almost three months now, I'm living with him, and-"

"Whoa, you're living with this guy?!"

Levy stopped when she realized she left that part out earlier. She started to twirl a stand of hair that escaped her headband, a nervous habit of hers she couldn't get rid of. "Yeah, I moved in with him a few days after New Years."

His eyes twitched. "Isn't that a bit… too soon? It's only been three months. Aren't you worried that he'll get bored with you and tell you to leave?"

"I know people don't usually get together and move in together at the same time but it's different with him and I was already starting to stay at his place more than my own apartment at that point and we we're dating for half a year before he asked, I just been living with for three months so far." She stopped when the rest of his words sunk in, "What do you mean that 'he'll get bored with me'?"

He didn't answer her question, instead he continued on. "So he basically got you to sleep with him. Then pressured you into moving in with him. I got it." He stated smoothly with a hint of a smirk.

"No!" she almost raised her voice but caught herself. "You don't 'got it' at all. He didn't pressure me into anything and not that it's any of your business but we haven't slept together like that either, he understands that I want to wait."

He snorted and slouched back in the seat. He took a quick sip from his cup. "Yea, waiting on his every beck and call, most likely. What's this guy look like anyways? A good girl like you wanting to 'wait', but ending up screwing around anyways. You didn't get around to that with me."

"Our relationship isn't like that at all, and you're one to talk about screwing around. And what does his appearance have to do with anything?" Levy was starting to get angry but his words were really starting to hurt. _'It's not like that. He's not like that at all.'_

"What this guy looks like has nothing to do with it-"

"You brought it up!" but he continued as if she didn't say anything.

"It's that you've moved in with him. It can't be that serious in just that short amount of time. It certainly wasn't when you were mine. What's this boyfriend of yours got that I don't?" His voice was starting to take on a edge.

"I told you we met last spring and started dating during the summer, we went out half a year before he asked me to be his girlfriend." She countered but the certainty in her voice was starting to waver.

A smug expression slowly appeared on his face. His lips turn slightly as he studied her. It was as if he knew what her mind was doing to itself.

' _Is he trying to make me unsure of my own relationship? Why? There's nothing wrong with us?'_ Though for something that started to feel untrue.

He continued when he saw the doubt creep further into her eyes as she looked away in thought. "How sure are you that he's not just trying to take advantage of you and your innocent nature? That he's this great and awesome man? Do you know what he likes, what he wants for the future? What are you gonna do if that picture doesn't include you, huh?"

She opened her mouth to counter. She knew his likes, what he wants in his future, she also knew his dislikes and some of his fears, she wanted to fight back but she couldn't find her voice. _'What if he's right? I mean I don't know everything about him or his past and he's not willing to share yet. And how do I know that he won't wait for me or put up with me?'_ she was starting to fall into that familiar downward spiral of despair and doubt, and she didn't know how to stop it.

"I mean, for goodness sakes, Levy! What if he gets you pregnant?!"

"But we're not…" she tried to say again that they weren't sleeping together in that way but trailed off for reasons she didn't know.

"You're not what?"

"I already told you we're not sleeping together." She answered meekly this time. Her fight leaving her.

He sensed it and pushed. "How long is he willing to live with you while you do your waiting? You probably don't know yourself when you'll be ready. Do _you_ even want him in that way, or are you just playing him the way you played me?"

"But you… you avoided me and slept around behind my back." _'You played me.'_ she wanted to say the last part out loud but she found that she couldn't.

"Yea, I probably shouldn't have done that, but you drove me to it. I wanted move to the next step. I waited, but I couldn't do it any longer."

"You waited barely two months." She countered but once more meekly. _'What does he mean I drove him to it? He said he understood.'_ she could feel the back of her eyes starting to burn.

Leaning his arms on the table, he gave her a plain gaze. "Levy, if you make this guy wait like I had to, he's going to leave or find someone else to fill his desires."

"He wouldn't… he's not like…." Levy gripped her locket, trying to find comfort in it, her voice starting to break.

"Not like what? Sweetheart, he's a man," he tried to hide his smirk but stopped trying to hide it after he noticed Levy wasn't even able to look at him anymore. His teeth slipped past his smile as he spoke. "You really think this big catch is hooked onto you for your personality alone? In his mind, he's already asking himself if he made the right decision in making you his girl. Especially if you aren't gonna put out. If you ask me, I think you're much better off if-"

"That's not true at all!" They both turned to the new voice and Levy was shocked to see who it was.

"Wendy?" Sure enough, little Wendy, in her kitten eared hat and winter coat came running up to them, angry and ready for a fight. She came up to the table and glared at Aden.

"Gajeel doesn't regret dating her and asking her to move in at all! He's crazy about her! Told me so himself! He told me that he thinks she's funny, smart, kindhearted, and likes that she's sassy and doesn't let him push her or anyone around! And I don't know what the big idea about sleeping together is, they already sleep in the same bed so what's the big deal? They're boyfriend and girlfriend and she lives with us so there's nothing wrong with it! And quit trying to make Levy think that Gajeel doesn't love her because he does and wouldn't hurt her and she wouldn't hurt him either and whatever he's waiting if he said he'll wait her wait! So quit picking on Levy you jerkface!"

Aden looked blankly at the sudden, explosively small presence standing beside the table. He pointed at Wendy with his thumb. "Do you know her?"

Levy could only stare in shock, unable to comprehend that Wendy was here and coming to her defense no less.

"Don't ignore me! I'm talking to you! It's rude to ignore people when they're talking to you!" Wendy protested, waving her small fists in the air. "No wonder Levy didn't want to talk you!"

He turned back to look at the scowling child, then back to Levy. "Who is she?"

Levy stuttered, trying and failing to say something.

"Quit ignoring me!" Wendy exclaimed once more.

"Look here, you little brat. It's rude to interrupt adults when they're talking.

"And it's rude to ignore people who are talking to you andnot letting Levy talk either! And you were saying really mean things to her and about Gajeel!" Wendy countered.

' _She has a point.'_ Levy then realized something she really should have thought of the second she saw Wendy here. _'Wait, how did she get here?'_

Before Levy could respond to her own thoughts, Aden's confused features changed from annoyance to anger. His hand smacked the table, causing the coffee cup to rattle against the smooth surface. "I don't know why you're here, but what I say to my ex-girlfriend is no concern of yours, least of all, little girl. Go run along to your mother before you make me get up from this chair."

"It is my business you big meanie!" Wendy countered back, refusing to back down.

Levy could only watch with wide eyed horror as Aden's face reddened as this small child lectured him about manners in public. She saw his fingers twitch and his arm move, and before she knew it, the man had tightly grabbed Wendy's upper arm.

However the second he did so, a much larger hand grabbed his wrist and squeezed it to the point where he swore his bones were grinding together, forcing him to let go of the Wendy's arm. They all looked up the arm the second Aden saw the face of the man the arm was attached to his face blanched and even Levy jumped back for she had never in the entire time she's known him seen Gajeel so angry as he was right now, not even when they facing down that mother at Wendy's school.

"And it's MY business when you talk to MY girlfriend like that and treat MY baby sister this way, you fucking asshat." Gajeel growled. If looks could kill, Aden would be ashes right now. His hold on the man's wrist tightened, squeezing further. "You are damn lucky that we're in public and there are people watching."

Aden somehow regained his composure, despite the pain in his wrist, and glared up at him and swiftly glanced from him to Levy, who just stared in shock. "You're her boyfriend?"

"The one and only."

"Man, Levy. I didn't think you'd go for the macho, gangster type." Aden said, talking towards Levy, though he stared at the business fronts across the street.

Gajeel growled and tightened his hold even further, turning his hand as he did. "You little punk ass bitch, who are you to talk to _my_ family in that way? You wanna take this around back so there's no witnesses to watch your bloody corpse rot?"

"G-Gajeel! What are you doing?!" Levy hissed as she snapped from her trance. She watched Aden's face slightly shudder as her boyfriend let go of his wrist with a rough fling, the momentum was fast enough to slam it against the table's edge. He now stood squarely beside Aden's chair, blocking Wendy from his view.

"How 'bout it fucker?" He snarled and crossed his arms over his chest.

"You can't fight him here! This is a coffee shop!" Levy protested and took Wendy by the hand to gently pull her away from the men.

Aden looked up at Gajeel from his seat as he rubbed his bruised wrist. He would have never pegged Levy to end up with a massive man such as this one. She was the timid, petite kind of girl. This match was something he would never have put together. Not in a million years. And what was it about Levy that made this Gajeel want to go berserk?

He glanced down to Gajeel's thick arms, one of them bared some severe scars that one didn't get from a simple cut, and wide, broad shoulders. No doubt the man had some definite muscle he do for a living that allowed him to get so large? His own thoughts and confidences were starting to falter as he observed and took in the man's pure rage.

Was there any way he could best Levy's current protector? He wasn't one to doubt his own abilities, but his eyes took in what his mind was trying to tell him. He swallowed nervously as fear finally started to set in.

"I can and I will." Gajeel's teeth were still clenched as he spoke, never taking his eyes from the man across from Levy. "It's all up to you."

"You don't expect me to fight you. Not here." Aden tried to protest.

"Hell yes I do. Where else?"

By now the customers were watching the display with cautioned interest, the constant hum of conversation was just a low murmur. Levy gulped and looked around anxiously as she hugged Wendy to her, though she couldn't help but notice and was shocked to see that Wendy looked like she wanted to join her brother as she glared at Aden, a glare that almost exactly matched Gajeel's.

"Gajeel, please think of Wendy here." Levy could see the murderous intention in Gajeel's red eyes. It frightened her considerably. Surely he wasn't going to go through with his threat? ' _But I've also never seen him go back on his word either!'_

"Wendy's not the one you should be worried about."

Aden pushed the chair back and stood up. He was taller than Levy, but lacked the height to reach eye level with the man before him. "What are you gonna do?"

Gajeel took a deep breath and let it out through his nose. "Don't mistake me for an idiot. And I know what you were doing."

Aden snorted, trying to rebuild his brave face. "Yea? And what was that?"

"Not that I need to explain anything to _you_ , but I'd never force Levy into something she didn't want. She's not just some girl I picked up off the street like some hooker. She means something to me. And to Wendy."

Aden stared at him defiantly.

"I would never cheat on her or manipulate her feelings. Unlike some unlucky fucking bitch face staring up at me right now."

Levy blushed and noticed the people staring at the scene the two men were creating. She didn't like being the center of attention. Not that she didn't like attention, especially when she cuddled with Gajeel, but this was embarrassing. Grown men were fighting over her, she knew that Gajeel was just defending but still. She felt like a doll between two children.

It was then that something Gajeel said clicked in her mind.

"Wait, what do you mean by manipulating my feelings?" She asked Gajeel. He finally turned towards her but moved his body in a way that would make it difficult for Aden to get away.

"This fucker was trying to make you doubt us, trying to break your trust in me, he used your history to open up old wounds and insecurities. I've seen this before, someone wanted a person but were already together with someone else. They sabotage their relationships so they could steal that person away."

That's where it all made sense to Levy. Why Aden wanted to meet her in person even after apologizing on the phone, his sudden change in behavior and attitude the second she mentioned she had a boyfriend, and all the questioning and negative things he was saying to her. This entire time Aden was hoping to get her back and when he learned she had moved on he tried to ruin that relationship.

Levy turned away from Gajeel and her renewed fury at Aden. "You never wanted to start over just as friends. You wanted me to take you back, after what you did?" though Levy said this calmly but even Wendy could detect the hidden fury in her voice.

Aden tried to regain his composure but found himself becoming a stuttering mess as Gajeel leaned back with a smug smirk and prepared himself for the show.

Levy stared at him as she crossed her arms. "I'm waiting."

He glanced from Levy to Gajeel, then back to his ex-girlfriend. "Well… I was just, I wanted-"

"Wanted what? Say it. What. Did. You. Want?" With every word her voice didn't raise but the anger did.

"I wanted you back! Alright, happy?!" He snapped, leaning towards her.

"And you thought sabotaging my relationship and manipulating my feelings would win me back? Did it ever occur to you that I'm happy with him?" Levy pointed to Gajeel.

Before Aden could respond, she jumped to continue. "No, you didn't. Because you didn't care what I wanted, you only cared about yourself. You only like the idea of being with me, and seeing that I've moved on with someone else who's more than satisfied with me and the way we are… you really can't stand it, can you?"

She knew that she had hit the nail on the head as Aden's eyes flickered from her to the table between them.

"Did you really think I'd still be hung up over you after all this time? Especially after what you did? YOU are the one who started cheating and avoiding me barely two months in. YOU are the one let me leave after I had to finally track you down only to find out what you were really doing with my own eyes. YOU made no effort to contact after all this time till you literally ran into me just days ago, claiming that you just wanted to apologize and get closure when you had a hidden agenda all along."

She took a needed deep breath and stared hard at him. "No, you don't get the satisfaction this time. We're over. Completely. No relationship of any kind exists between us anymore." An almost strangled laugh escaped her throat. "You know, I was willing to be friends again, I like to believe in second changes, but after what you just tried to pull I never want to see or hear from you again."

"Levy, come on…" Aden began with a casual smile, as if he still believed he could talk his way through it, but she wouldn't listen.

"No. I'm done. You can go."

Aden opened his mouth to say something but Gajeel's hand suddenly grabbed his shoulder in a near painful grip.

"You heard her. Now do you want to walk out on your own or do you want me to toss your sorry ass out headfirst into the street?" Gajeel growled, emphasizing with a suddenly torturous tightening of his grip before relaxing.

Aden could see that he really meant what he threatened, and with one last lingering look at Levy, he turned to leave. She watched him as he marched out of the shop without a backward glance. The other customers who had been listening began to resume their normal conversations.

Levy then turned her attention to Gajeel next. "And you!" Gajeel was taken aback by her fury which was now turned on him. "I need to talk to you. Outside."

Levy headed out of the coffee shop and didn't need to turn around to know that Gajeel and Wendy were following her. She walked down the street away from prying eyes before turning on her heel to face Gajeel.

"What were you doing here?!" She suddenly demanded, throwing Gajeel off guard. His briefly widened eyes narrowed as he countered back.

"Really? After what that bastard did you're turning on me now?" He pointed to himself.

"I'm not turning on you but I do want to know why you there spying on me?!"

"I was not spying on you!"

"Oh really? So it was an coincidence that you just happened to be at the same coffee shop where I told you I was meeting Aden at the same time?" Levy didn't know if she should feel better or not by the fact that he didn't try to come with a excuse to that. "And I thought you trusted me."

"Now hold on Levy. I do trust you," Gajeel insisted.

"Your actions says otherwise. You're either jealous or you didn't trust me, which is it?" Levy demanded.

"Neither!" Gajeel growled but didn't say anything more.

"Gajeel!"

"Wait! It's not Gajeel's fault! It was all my idea!" They both looked down at Wendy who stood between, failing her arms in a attempt to get their attention and stop their fighting.

"Huh?" That was the only thing Levy could say as she started at the little girl.

"Baby Blue-" Wendy continued before Gajeel could.

"When you left I asked Gajeel where you were going and he said you were going to see someone. I asked if it was the same person you were talking to the other day and he said he thought so." Levy recalled finding Wendy looking at her after Aden called her and had wonder how much she heard, apparently she heard a lot.

"You didn't seem like you wanted to talk to him on the phone and when Gajeel said you were going to see him I was worried that something might happen because you really didn't seem to want to talk to him. I told Gajeel that but he tried to say that you'll be fine and nothing to worry about.

"But I really wanted to be sure and kept asking him if we could do a stake out just to be sure you were okay. I kept bugging him, I even walked out of the shop to get him to agree and said he was only doing this to show me I had nothing to worry about. He does trust you and he only did because of me so please don't be mad at him or leave, I don't want you two to break up because of what I did!" Wendy pleaded as tears started to fill her eyes.

Both Gajeel and Levy immediately crouched down next to her. He wiped her eyes with his coat sleeve and Levy pulled her into a hug.

"I'm not mad, Wendy," Levy looked up at Gajeel. "At either of you. I'm not going to leave, either. I just felt that you didn't trust me when I realized you were watching the whole time."

Gajeel let out a breath. "Like Wendy said, I do trust you. I honestly didn't think anything was going to happen. Thought you two would yak for a bit before leaving, didn't expect him to try and play you like that though. Only thing I am sorry for is that Wendy was faster at telling him off."

Levy bit back a laugh.

"You did more than that. And honestly, I thought it was a little gallant of you to come to my defense like that."

"Gihi, never doubt it. I'll always come to defend ya." Gajeel smirked fondly.

"And me!" Wendy added. Levy smiled brightly at both of them as she moved in closer to wrap an arm around Gajeel so she was hugging them both.

' _I don't think I'll ever doubt either of them, especially Gajeel, again.'_

"Now can we move out of the snow? I'm freezing my ass off."

' _And there goes moment.'_ But Levy found herself laughing despite that. As they moved to get up though Levy remembered something.

"You know, back where Wendy first appeared, she said that you told her all those nice things you said me." Gajeel stiffened as his cheeks started to turn red but Levy was pretty sure it wasn't from the cold.

"Yeah?" He asked.

"When did you tell her that? I know Wendy meant it since she doesn't lie."

"...Those things I told her are true…" he trailed off, facing away from her.

"Gajeel, when did you tell her those sweet thoughts about me?" He was saved when Wendy suddenly spoke up.

"What does screwing mean?" They both stared at her, causing her to fidget. "That guy kept mentioning it but I don't know what a screw has anything to do with anything."

' _Bless her innocent mind.'_ Levy thought as she gazed at her. Gajeel was clearing thinking something else as he stood, and a dark expression took over as he made to take off after Aden.

"I'm going to kill him." He attempted his way back down the street even with a woman clinging to his back and a small girl on his leg.

"Gajeel, no!"

* * *

 **Be honest you all thought it was going to be Gajeel to interrupt them didn't ya? Well you were partly right, Wendy was just quicker. Sorry this took so long and the "I Love You" prompt won't take nearly as long I swear! Also huge credit and thanks to CapAleran2 for helping me with this, wasn't for this guy this would have taken MUCH longer. Let me know what you guys think. Hope everyone is in character.**


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